Many environmental barriers to people with disabilities can be removed by making minor modifications or adjustments. The same is true of Web sites!

If you construct a building, it's easier and cheaper to put in access for people with disabilities during the initial construction than to add it on later. The same is true of Web sites!

Making accommodations on your Web site for the greatest number of users increases the availability and usefulness of those materials. A few scenerios to consider:

• A sight-imparied person may use a Web browser that reads aloud what's on a Web page, including design elements.
• a deaf person will need text versions of audio that is available on your computer screen
• someone with limited hand movement may not be able to hold down more than one key on their keyboard at once, so certain Web menus would be impossible for him or her to use the way you intended

People with disabilities use special tools to browse the Web, and these assistive technologies can be confused by some Web site designs and functions. Designing your web site to be accessible by people using assistive technologies is very simple and costs nothing if its done as you build your Web site.

View pages on your Web site through Bobby, http://www.cast.org/bobby/, and see how accessible the pages are to people with disabilities (start with your home page, then try your page for volunteers, etc.). Bobby will grade a Web page, show you exactly where problems could occur for a user, and show exactly how to change the .html code for each problem to render the page fully accessible. Bobby was created at CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology), a non-profit organization whose mission is to expand opportunities for all people, especially those with disabilities, through the innovative uses of computer technology. The Bobby Web site provides a great deal of information to help you make your Web site accessible to the greatest number of people possible.

The AIR-Austin Web site is "Bobby Approved" -- meaning our site is fully-accessible to people using assistive technologies to view Web pages. We used Bobby to guide this process.

Examples! View our Gallery of Accessibility, links to award-winning Web sites that pass the BOBBY test.

Other suggested resources

• Designing User Interfaces for All
  http://www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_032.htm
  Presented at the 1998 Conference: "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" by the Center On Disabilities at California State University at Northridge. You can find a complete list of papers presented at this conference at http://www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98.htm

• Adults With Disabilities: Perceived Barriers that Prevent Internet Access
  http://www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_152.htm
  Presented at the 1998 Conference: "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" by the Center On Disabilities at California State University at Northridge. You can find a complete list of papers presented at this conference at http://www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98.htm

• WebABLE!
  http://www.yuri.org/webable/
  An authoritative Web directory for disability-related internet resources. WebABLE!'s database lists hundreds of internet based resources on accessibility. This meta-index of sites is compiled by the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation. Includes information on:
  • making your Web site accessible for the blind and visually impaired
    
  • writing accessible HTML documents, etc.
    
  • universal access to the National Information Infrastructure (NII)
    
  • "Concept of a Structural HTML Page Browser to Support Access to WWW for People with Disabilities
    

• EASI: Equal Access to Software and Information
  http://www.rit.edu/~easi
  A non-profit organization, part of the Teaching Learning and Technology Group, affiliated with the American Association for Higher Education with a mission to help make information technologies more accessible to users with disabilities. EASI sponsors an online workshop on how to design web pages to be accessible to everyone including people with a variety of disabilities.

• World Wide Web Accessibility to People with Disabilities: A Usability Perspective
  By Dr. Jon Gunderson

• PDF and Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Viewers for the Visually Disabled
  By Liz McQuarrie, Adobe Systems, Inc.

• Issues of Web Design Multiple Browser Compatibility
  By Anita Rowland

• World Wide Web Browser Access Recommendations
  By Dr. Jon Gunderson

• Access to Multimedia Technology by People with Sensory Disabilities
  A report by the National Council on Disability (NCD)'s Tech Watch Task Force, a group of experts in technology and disability from around the country. Provides an overview of multimedia access barriers and solutions, including public policy interventions that we recommend as part of an overall strategy to make the electronic bridge to the 21st century available to all Americans.

• Alliance for Technology Access

• The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
  http://www.w3.org/WAI/
  An activity sponsored by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WAI's purpose is to make the Web more accessible to people with disabilities. The WAI has five major areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development. W3C is an industry consortium created to develop common protocols that enhance the interoperability and promote the evolution of the Web. W3C is jointly run by MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) in the USA, National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA) in France and Keio University in Japan. To date, more than 215 organizations are members.

• Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program (ATACP) 98
  http://www.csun.edu/cod/98atacp.html
  Earn a Certificate in Assistive Technology Applications and 10 Continuing Education Units (CEU's) from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in only two weeks. Designed for individuals who seek to enhance their professional development and skill level by earning a certificate in assistive technology applications. The 100-hour training experience includes lecture, demonstration, discussion, observations and presentations on applications of assistive technology. There is 80 hours of live instruction over two weeks, 12 hours of on-line instruction, and eight hours credit toward a required project to be completed within 90 days of completion of the program. Nationally recognized speakers will share information across a wide range of assistive technology (AT) topics. Sponsored by the Center on Disabilities and the College of Extended Learning at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

• Assistive Technology Resources on the Web
  A meta-index of sites compiled by the Vocational Evaluation and Work Adjustment Association (VEWAA), a national non-profit professional association whose members work with people to match them with training, careers, and employment.

• Yahoo Business and Economy: Companies: Disabilities: Adaptive Technology Sites
  http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Disabilities/Adaptive_Technology/

The following is an excerpt from the City of San Jose, California Web site's "Disability Access Design Standards". In recognition of its efforts to design its Web sites with easy-access in mind, the San Jose site was selected as a model City link for the federal government Center on Information Technology Accommodation. These standards are excellent for any organization to follow.

In response to the need to ensure that our web page is accessible to persons with disabilities navigating at our web site, the City of San Jose has developed these standards for web page design. Just as curbcuts enable persons who use wheelchairs to navigate our City, electronic curbcuts enable persons with hearing, visual and learning disabilities to navigate our web site. These standards are influenced by Universal Design concepts embraced by the National Information Infrastructure (NII). Specifically, Universal Design calls for the development of information systems flexible enough to accommodate the needs and preferences of the broadest range of users of computers and telecommunications equipment, regardless of age or disability.

Our standards embrace the NII White Paper concepts that "building choice" removes communications and information access barriers that restrict business and social interactions between people with and without disabilities; removes age-related barriers to participation in society; reduces language and literacy-related barriers to society; reduces risk of information worker injuries and enhances global commerce opportunities.

The Disability Access Design Standards are currently being incorporated into our web site and will evolve as new technologies and information systems emerge.

• Web Home Page and all City department home pages will be linked to a page entitled "Instruction Page for Users with Disabilities." This page will provide instructions for access to the City web pages for persons with visual and hearing disabilities. This link button will be located at the bottom of the Department Home Page.

• All City of San Jose World Wide Web pages shall support text browsers directly on the page or have an alternative text page displaying the same information.

• Every graphic image shall be captioned on the alternate text page.

• All audio and video clips shall have text transcriptions or descriptions. The graphic page will have a closed-captioned (CC) link button.

• Any link text shall contain descriptive words which can be quickly reviewed by users. Words like "this", "here" or "click" alone do not convey information about the nature of the link.

• An alternate mechanism for on-line forms will be provided since forms are not supported by all browsers. For example, the page could provide a phone number or email address for obtaining the form or assistance.

• If visitors are required to download software not accessible by a screen reader in order to obtain City documents, then the following Alternate Document Format Notice will be posted at the site: "To obtain this information in an accessible format, please call (408) 277-XXXX (Voice) or (408) 277-XXXX (TTY)."

• The use of tables with more than two columns will be avoided since tables are not supported by all browsers and cannot be read intelligently by screen readers. If tables are used, then the Alternate Document Format Notice will be posted at the site.

For more information about AIR-Austin, call
Sharron Rush at 512/478-2581
or send email srush@knowbility.org
or visit the
AIR-Austin Web site
http://www.main.org/AIR-Austin

AIR-Austin Home Page | Rally Background |

Competition '98 Events | Competition Details |

Tools and advice for Web designers