Justin describes himself as a young man with a disability advocating for more choices for the disability community. Justin’s speech was pre-recorded using his Accent communication device, an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solution. AAC “offers individuals a communication system that can add to or replace speech.” Visit Justin’s Blog or YouTube Channel.
Experience Digital (In)Accessibility
In this video, I demonstrate inaccessibility and accessibility by experience. Keep watching my video on digital accessibility even if you don’t hear anything.
I have stopped trusting in PDF Forms especially a long time ago because I have so much 99.9 inaccessibility quotes that I always, always, always prefer having a HTML Form which I can, in the worst case, analyze the HTML code and try to fill it out like that. The Accessibility Experience: How does a blind person navigate PDF documents and forms? · René Jaun (40:35)
Evaluating the User Experience and Accessibility of Digital Tools
In Spring 2023 I created this lesson plan on Evaluating the User Exerience and Accessbility of Digital Tools for undergraduate students as a guest lecturer for Professor Trust.
Please contact me if you would like me to present in your class or event at patalano@umass.edu.
Stories
“Then something odd happened. One day, I asked my students to write an exit ticket responding to a section of “A Raisin in the Sun,” and John submitted a full paragraph. I didn’t understand. Had he been holding back? Was there something about this book that really resonated for him? When I asked him about it, he shared his screen on Zoom to demonstrate how he was using the Read&Write toolbar for Google Chrome to dictate his thoughts.” From a story by special ed teacher, Ryan Fan: Accessibility Tools Can Be Transformative for Some Students. But at What Cost?
Read how this student’s learning escalated by using Read&Write toolbar for Google Chrome. In another story, Inaccessibility, a 2-minute video with Justin Smith and his mom, learn about Justin’s experience of how difficult it was for him to do his homework because of inaccessible documents.
Where do I start?
Someone once told me: Just start anywhere. Start by learning from Why Teach Accessibility? Fact Sheet, a guide for teachers and anyone.
I saw co-workers scanning text documents into images and then putting them online. Don’t do that. Screen-readers can’t read text on images. It’s not text. Instead save your document as a PDF. Link to that. This is a great resource: Yale University Usability & Web Accessibility: Images.
When you use images on the web or in your documents, make sure you enter Alt Text for them. Learn when and how to apply Alt Text from one of the experts, WebAim.
POUR: An eBook on Digital Accessibility
Read my eBook on How to Evaluate Digital Accessibility. Look inside for Do’s and Don’ts.
POUR stands for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust. These principles are used in the WCAG guidelines. Visit this excellent Introduction to Accessibility from Digital.gov. You may also browse my web accessibility resources page on my department website.
Teachers & Trainors: Planning to use a tech tool in a learning activity?
Do you know how easy it is to use – if it’s usable by people with visual, hearing or mobility impairments? Use the free eBook Online Tools for Teaching & Learning by Professor Torrey Trust and her students to see evaluations of over 125 tech tools.
Each tech tool page features an extensive overview of a digital tool or app for teaching and learning, including a review of the tool’s ease-of-use, privacy and accessibility. For example, see the Minecraft for Education evaluation that I and two of my classmates created.
Produced with the Invisible Disabilities Association.