Creating Accessible Electronic Documents

and Presentations

Chad Gobert

October 15th, 2012

www.serviceandinclusion.org

Toll-free hotline: 888-491-0326 (voice/TTY)

National Partnerships

What is Accessibility?

• Accessibility gives an opportunity to provide meaningful, equivalent access to all services, programs, and activities.

• It may not always be possible to achieve complete accessibility, yet a truly inclusive environment strives to increase it’s level of access for all.

(http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/handbook/index.php?page=sectionv)

Universal Design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.

- Center for Universal Design at NC State

Principles of Universal Design• Equitable Use• Flexibility in Use• Simple and Intuitive Use• Perceptible Information• Tolerance for Error• Low Physical Effort• Size and Space for

Approach and Use

Universal Design and Presentations

• Think about space when you are setting up a meeting.

• Good lighting benefits everyone.

• Use signs that have both text and symbols.

• Caption videos.

• Repeat questions from the audience so everyone can hear them clearly.

• Other suggestions?

The Structure and Design of Accessible Documents

• Establish your Foundation• Build your Structure• Make your Environment Inviting

Establish Your Foundation

Set up Office software before writingA.Text colors and backgroundB.Font and sizeC.Styles of headings

A. Text Colors and Background

This is text which is blue on a yellow background.

This is text which is red on

a green background.

This is text which is black

on a white background.

This is text which is black

on a white background.

This is text which is red on

a green background.

This is text which is blue on a yellow background.

B. Font and Size

Serif fontsTimes New Roman

Book Antiqua

Sans-serif fontsAriel

TahomaVerdana

Cursive fontsLucida CalligraphyFreestyle ScriptMonotype Corsiva

Monospace fontsCourierCourier New

Verdana:The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Arial:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

http://www.ahead.ie/inclusiveeducation_supportsinthirdlevel_03_accessibleformat

B. Font and Size

C. Styles for Headings and Backgrounds

C. Styles for Headings and Backgrounds

C. Styles for Headings and Backgrounds

Let’s Lay that Foundation

Build your Structure

Amount of content and visual layoutTypes of content

A. Bulleted and numbered listsB. HyperlinksC. Columns and text boxesD. Charts and tables

`

3. Substantially limits means significantly restricted in condition,

manner or duration of performance in comparison to average person in general population

b. factors determining substantial limitation:1) nature and severity of

impairment 2) duration or expected duration3) impairments that substantially

by limit major life activities are disabilities without regard to effect of mitigating measures such as medication or adaptive devices. 28 C.F. Part 36, App B

Amount of Content and Visual Layout

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Lists help distinguish content in a logical manner

• Use bullets for unordered lists− Section 504 compliance− Rehabilitation Act of 1973

1. Use numbers/letters for ordered listsa. Have research methods approved by IRBb. Engage participants in qualitative research

Hyperlinks

Original Example: Problem: Corrected Example:

EBSCO Host search engine, click here.Academic Info. Search engine, click here.

The link titles are not unique.

Search engines to use:EBSCO HostAcademic Info

http://www.shrm.org/Publications/HRNews/Pages/NewADAAARules.aspx

The hyperlink is too long and is not contextual.

Information on the ADA Amendments Act from Society for Human Resource Management.

Article 1Article 2

Link titles are not descriptive of the underlying content.

Articles:Think CollegeCollege Preparation

This table shows several examples of mislabeled hyperlinks. Each row represents an example, why it’s a problem, and how to correct it.

Columns and Text Boxes

Reasonable Accommodation Examples:

No Tech:• Flexible schedules• Workspace map• Daily ‘To-do’ lists

Low-Tech:• Dragon speak• Voice recorder• Reachers and grabbers

High-Tech:• Evacuation devices/chairs • Automatic door opener• Text to speech scanner

Charts and Tables

The following table shows accommodation information for states beginning with “A”. The table is arranged with rows representing the states and columns representing numbers for accommodations.

State

Reasonable Accommodations Requested

Reasonable Accommodations Provided

Percentage Difference

Alabama 25 25 100%

Alaska 15 17 88.2%

Arizona 10 11 90.9%

Arkansas 17 17 100%

Charts and Tables

0 50 100 150

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

Percentage Difference

RA Provided

RA Requested

Let’s Build the House

Make Your Space Inviting

A. Alternative text for images

B. Saving documents in an accessible format

Alternative Text

Photo of a purple sharpie permanent marker with four paper tags attached to it.

Including Images and Text• Does the visual (picture, screen

capture, smart/clip art) add meaning to your text content?

• Does your Alt Text have enough content to properly explain the picture?

• Would a caption unite the photo and slide/document text?

Accessible DocumentsSave as type:•PC/Mac Office versions

– 2003/2004 .doc, .xls, .ppt file types– 2007/2008 .docx, .xlsx, .pptx file types

•PDF– Cross-platform compatible

•HTML– Most accessible because it is all text

Let’s Furnish the House

Review

Enjoying your new homeLet’s review!1. We established our foundation2. We built our structure3. We made our environment inviting

But first let’s ensure we know how to access our new home.

Any Questions?

Contact Us!

You may find us at-

Roxy.Rocker@umb.eduChad.Gobert@umb.edu

Works Cited• (2008), Adobe accessibility quick reference card. Adobe

Systems Incorporated. San Jose, CA.• Falkofske, James. Making word documents accessible.

St. Cloud Technical College. St, Cloud, MN.• http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/handbook/

index.php?page=sectionvi• http://www.ahead.ie/

inclusiveeducation_supportsinthirdlevel_03_accessibleformat