Liz Miller & Kara ZirkleGeorge Mason University – Assistive Technology Initiative

Accessing Higher Ground (AHG) – November 2011

Manager

Coordinator, IT Accessibility

Coordinator, Accessible Media

Program Support Specialist

2 Accessible Media Assistants

Mason community (with or without documentation) Informal assessments Overview of AT available for personal use

Faculty, staff and students with documented disabilities Faculty/Staff - registered with the Office of Equity and

Diversity Services (OEDS) Students – registered with the Office of Disability

Services (ODS)

Informal AT assessments

Training – software and equipment

Training and technical resources

Accessible text & media

Web accessibility testing and accessibility workshops

Accessible text productionAccessible text productionAccessible media productionAccessible media productionOptions for students on campus, in the Options for students on campus, in the

classroom and at home, including classroom and at home, including Universal DesignUniversal Design

Web accessibilityWeb accessibility

Learning Disabilities, Visual Impairments and Learning Disabilities, Visual Impairments and Mobility ImpairmentsMobility Impairments

To qualify to receive material in alternative formats, students, staff and faculty must have a documented “print” related disability. (Referrals are made by our Office of Disability Services and our ADA Coordinator.)

Learning disabilities related to reading

Visual impairments Some mobility

impairments Some other

cognitive impairments

AccessText Bookshare –

University Partner VA HEAT

Much easier than it used to be!

AccessTextPublisher Look-

up ServiceBiblioVaultIndividual

websites

Project of AccessText

http://www.accesstext.org/fedsearch.php

Searches: AccessText Network Alternative Media

Access Center Bookshare CourseSmart Learning Ally National Library

Service

Cut Scan (high speed)

Capture Perfect - TIFF OCR

ABBYY Pro OmniPage Pro Adobe Acrobat Pro Read & Write Gold WYNN (Other schools may utilize

Kurzweil, Dolphin, etc.) Format – PDF, Word, RTF,

Text, WYNN Burn files to cd Rebind

Students are encouraged to sign up for individual memberships

Bookshare – or students can request books through our free organizational membership (We are also university partners.)

Learning Ally – cd players available for loan

NLS – National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Image from: http://www.loc.gov/nls/digitalbooktraining/index.html

Students may scan or run basic OCR on their own materials – with software at home or using WYNN or Read & Write Gold with flatbed scanners on campus.

New project of 2011

Working closely with University libraries Distance Education Office of Disability

Services

Best practices for faculty & instructional designers: Pick legal media Pick the most

accessible option first Provide supporting

materials Turn on Closed

Captions

Closed captioningTranscriptionSynchronization

Hearing Impairments – accessComprehension, visual learnersThose who have difficulty with note

takingESL

Image from http://www.docsoft.com/

(Vendors for video description)

Docsoft Docsoft:AV Docsoft:TE

Proofing & troubleshooting

Returns SkyDrive, email Flashdrives, DVDs Streaming server (in

progress)

Online request system Research

Library & copyright info Online searches

NCH software Prism Video File Converter SoundTap Streaming

Audio Recorder Debut Video Capture Golden Videos Flash Lynx Video Download

Software Professional

Accommodations Pilot project –

Summer 2011 Training with 2

graduate student assistants

1 Instructional Designer for Distance Education

YouTube Recordings from our TV

station Other

iTunes U Promotional

materials on website

Distance Education Other . . .

Issues: Video Description Delivery of projects Copyrighted materials

Equipment & Software

Image from: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-Access-Workstations

Computer Screen Magnification Screen Readers Voice Recognition Head/Eye Controlled

Input On Screen Keyboards Touch Screens

Communication Amplification TDD/TTY Devices

Learning Visual Learning Writing software

Vision Magnifiers Braille Embossers Braille Displays

Mobility Adjustable Desks Large Key/Print

Keyboards Trackballs & Joysticks

From: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-Access-Workstations

AT Labs – Libraries at each campus WYNN Wizard Read & Write Gold JAWS ZoomText Dragon Naturally

Speaking CCTV Flatbed Scanner

Campus supported AT software in computer lab classrooms and testing

Student purchased AT software for personal laptops

CCTVs iPad apps

TextHelp Read & Write Gold PC or Mac ($30 with Mason ID at

Patriot Computers) Bookshare (free membership)

Victor Reader Soft (free) READ:OutLoud (free) Read2Go app ($20) Learning Ally ($100

membership) ReadHear software (free) DAISY Players (cost varies) Learning Ally Audio App ($20)

NLS (free membership) Digital and cassette player options

Other Free software & demos Low to high cost AT

Text readers i.e. Natural Reader,

ReadPlease Screen readers

i.e. System Access to Go, NonVisual Desktop Access

Demos Students can try

before they buy X minutes, hours or

days Download from web:

▪ JAWS ▪ Read & Write Gold▪ ZoomText

Request cd from website:▪ WYNN

Designing facilities and services in such a way to meet the needs for people with a broad range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics (i.e., age, reading ability, culture, etc.) reduces the need for special accommodations for patrons and even employees.

In the event that accommodations are needed, staff should be able to support individuals with disabilities, respond to specific accommodations requests, and know who to contact if they have disability-related questions.

Are staff trained in policies and procedures for providing accommodations to people with disabilities? What is your plan? Is it written? Updated?

Are staff knowledgeable about other organizations, such as Talking Book and Braille libraries, that provide services to patrons with disabilities? Do you have a readily available resource? Handout?

Online?

Can the library’s electronic and information resources (i.e., web pages, online catalogs, databases, etc) be accessed by a variety of accessible technologies? Have you had your resources tested?

Do videos developed or used in the library have captions?

Increasing number of distance education courses…

PDF Accessibility Wizard (PAW)Plug-in installs directly into Adobe AcrobatAllows document creators to convert a scanned PDF document into a tagged, accessible PDF document

Accessible Wizard for MS Office (not yet compatible with Office 2010)Plug-in installs directly into any MS Office app (i.e., Word, PPT)

Walks document creator through issues within document and how to make them accessible

Built-in tools – PC & Mac, Firefox Browser

Audio Books & e-Books

Bundled tools – Read & Write Gold

Web

PC Keyboard shortcuts Magnifier Contrast settings Narrator On screen keyboard Mouse keys, filter keys, sticky

keys Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling

/grammar check Ease of Access Center Speech recognition Text size Touch “Speak” in Office 2010

Mac Keyboard shortcuts Magnification Contrast settings VoiceOver Mouse Keys, Slow Keys, Sticky

Keys Text to speech Talking calculator & clock On screen keyboard Inkwell Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling

/grammar check, word completion Speech recognition

Firefox Some accessibility features are

dependent on the version of Firefox

Free accessibility add-ons Firefox Accessibility Extension Glazoom – magnifier No color N-Abled Web Accessibility Toolbar Page Zoom Buttons

Extensions for Firefox: Fire Vox – screen reader MozBraille – screen reader

(beta at present, not yet fully accessible – plans to offer Braille, text to speech and magnified output)

Image from - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Adobe Reader & Acrobat “Read Out Loud”

Public domain works i.e. Project Gutenberg

Audio Books i.e. Audible.com

Commercial Amazon (Kindle) Apple (iPad) Barnes & Noble (Nook) Sony (Reader)

DAISY Players and software

(i.e. Learning Ally)

**Important consideration: These resources vary in accessibility but work well for individual students on a case-by-case basis.

Free Software Amazon

Kindle for PC – ebook software for PC

Kindle App for iPhone & iPod Touch Barnes & Noble

eReader for Barnes & Noble eBooks Download for iPhone, iPod Touch,

Blackberry, Mac and PC knfb Reading Technology

Blio – eReader software with text-to-speech

Download for PCs, iPhone, iPod LexCycle

Stanza – ebook app for iPhone & iPod Touch

 Stanza Desktop – ebook reader for Mac or PC

TextHelp Read & Write Gold PC and Mac versions Reading and writing tools Helpful for ESL MP3 creation Voice recognition Scanning Screenshot Reader Research and study tools Inspiration-like tool DAISY Reader Web apps

The Web has become a key resource for: classroom education, distance learning; job searching, workplace interaction; civic participation, government services; news, information, commerce, entertainment

It is displacing traditional sources of information and interaction schools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the workplace; some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not.

An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.

Virginia has state-specific laws governing the accessibility of government created and procured technology (Code of Virginia § 2.2-2012 "Procurement of Information Technology", Code of Virginia § 2.2-3500 "Information Technology Access Act", Code of Virginia § 51.5-1 "Virginians with Disabilities Act"). These have been put into state-wide standards for Universities and agencies, which can be found on the VITA website. 

Just recently DoJ ADA created a settlement agreement with Fairfax County, VA to ensure accessibility of both physical and online material.

Do you use a Learning Management System? Do you add content to the course? Are you posting documents, videos, etc.?

Do you use technology for your class assignments (i.e. blogs, websites, wikis, etc.)?

Are you the author of a book used in class? Do you use visuals in the classroom that give

important information pertaining to the class? Do you use webinars, other classroom capture or

conferencing technology?

Do you influence or decide on technology purchases?

Do you develop websites, applications or documentation?

Do you oversee computer classroom settings?

Do you manage others who may work on the above mentioned?

Do you work in multimedia or telecommunications?

Posting, Distributing, Creating/Developing, Using, Maintaining.

Inaccessible material!

Assistive technology is not a substitute for accessible material!

AT + Accessible Materials = Equal Access

Everyone is involved and anyone can be affected.

Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI)

4400 University Drive4400 University DriveMSN 6A11MSN 6A11Fairfax, VA 22030Fairfax, VA 22030

Phone: 703-993-4329Phone: 703-993-4329Fax: 703-993-4743Fax: 703-993-4743

E-mail: ati@gmu.eduE-mail: ati@gmu.edu

Web: Web: http://ati.gmu.edu, http://ati.gmu.edu, http://accessibility.gmu.edu, http://accessibility.gmu.edu, http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu

Accessible Text Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/accessible_text.cfm

Accessible Media Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/media.cfm

Free to High Cost AT Resource Documents:http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/assistive_technology.html

Captioning & Video Description Resources:http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/captioning.html

Universal Designhttp://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/universal_design.html