Interactive Session

Puzzle: Salt, sugar butter, and flour.

Cook in the oven an hour

The cookie's ready to eat,

But be fast on your feet!

He runs on super sugar-power.

Who am I?

Accessibility Concept: Just a fun puzzle to get us started.

Solution: The Gingerbread Man

Resources: 

• Opening Puzzle (Google Slides)

• Opening Puzzle (PNG housed in Google Drive)

Puzzle:  NVDA is reading a scanned PDF

Accessibility Concept: Scanned PDFs are inaccessible unless they are put through an optical character recognition (OCR) scanner.  While many instructors scan documents to save time or help their students, they are actually creating a barrier for students who are using assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Solution: Run the document through an OCR scan.

Consider using a service like Kami for your OCR scans!

Resources: 

• PDFs

• NVDA Reading an Inaccessible PDF (YouTube)

Puzzle: Audio that is impossible to understand

Accessibility Concept:  Audio-only recordings must include a transcript and must be crisp and clear for everyone to understand. 

Solution: I'm not great with kids, but I want to get better. So I put a bunch of extra candy out on my desk, so they will come talk to me. Like the witch from Hansel and Gretel.

Resources: 

• Captioning, Transcripts, and Recordings

• Puzzle: Garbled Audio (.mp3 file housed in Google Drive)

Puzzle:  Audio description of how to complete a process using "click here"

Accessibility Concept: Individuals who cannot see what you are doing need detailed descriptions.  This does not only include those who have low or no vision.  Those working on small screens, such as smartphones, need detailed instructions.

Solution:  Ensure you are providing descriptive directions.  Click here is not helpful where a directive such as, "Select the File drop-down menu on the top left of your screen."

Resources: 

• Captioning, Transcripts, and Recordings

• Bad Audio & Click Here Accessibility Example (YouTube)

Puzzle: A video with poorly generated captions.

Solution: The speaker is actually saying ten and not hen.

Accessibility Concept: Machine-generated captions do not meet accessibility standards.  You must edit them to meet compliance.  

Resources: 

• Captioning, Transcripts, and Recordings

• Bad Caption Example (YouTube)

Puzzle: Sequence problem

Accessibility Concept: While sequence puzzles are fun for some, they are difficult for others (especially those with dyslexia or dyscalculia).

Solution: The next number of dice is 18.  The next number is the sum of the previous two numbers.

Resources: 

• Cognition

• Sequence of Events (PNG housed in Google Drive)

Puzzle: You have 30 seconds before the Gingerbread Woman yells for the witch.  How many green dice are there?  Oh, did she say 30 seconds?  You know, she's impatient?  She meant 15 seconds.

Accessibility Concept: Cognitive overload, identify by color only, test anxiety

Solution: Too many to count!

Resources: 

• Contrast

• Cognition

• Puzzle: Cognitive Overload (PNG housed in Google Drive)

Puzzle: How many links are there?

Accessibility Concept: Underlines should be reserved for hyperlinked material only.  Readers associate underlines with linked material, and individuals with processing disorders, such as dyslexia, have a difficult time processing underlined material as the letters are cut off by the underline.

Solution:  There are 4 links

Resources: 

• Formatting Text

• Links & Underlines Puzzle Image (PNG housed in Google Drive)

• Links & Underlines Puzzle (Google Slides) 

Puzzle: Select your piece of pie carefully

Accessibility Concept: Contrast (or color contrast) relates to how colors appear to individuals.  You should never rely on color alone as individuals who are color blind or have no vision or low vision will interpret colors differently.  Some users will override your color settings to a color combination that works best for them, so color should never be the only indicator for information. 

Solution:  The top right quadrant is safe to eat.

Resources: 

• Contrast

• Charts

• Puzzle: Contrast (PNG housed in Google Drive)

Puzzle:  What is the image and how can it help us?

Accessibility Concept: Images must be able to be magnified up to 200% without pixelation.  This is to help not only those who have low vision but smartphone users often enlarge images.

Solution:  A blueprint of the dungeon to help us escape!

Resources:

• Images

• Pixelation Puzzle Image (PNG housed in Google Drive)

• Pixelation Puzzle (Google Slides) 

Puzzle: Pie chart and prisoners

Accessibility Concept: Charts need clear labels, and colors cannot be the only indicator for meaning.

Solution: Use clear callout labels on or adjacent to each section that identifies the type and data point to prevent the need for learners to speculate what amount it might represent. Additionally, add patterns/designs to the sections to make them distinguishable by more than color alone. 

Resources: 

• Charts & Graphs

• Contrast

• Charts & Graphs Puzzle Image (PNG housed in Google Drive)

• Charts & Graphs Puzzle (Google Slides) 

Puzzle: 

Accessibility Concept:

Solution: The letter reads:

To the Witches Council,

Your order rang clear that we are not to consume small children until the rising of the harvest moon coats our land in amber light, but I am tormented night and day by the activities of these two precocious children, Hansel and Gretel. They take pieces of my house into their mouths and chew and chew and chew. Soon I will be without lodging. They are apple-cheeked, wide-eyed little children, and I wish sorely to eat them, so please form an exception for my case.

Your Humble Servant, 

The Gingerbread Hag Witch

Resources: 

• Formatting Text

• Font Selection Puzzle Image (PNG housed in Google Drive)

• Font Selection Puzzle (Google Slides)