Misconceptions

"Accessibility is just for disabled people"

The first misconception is that accessibility features is only for disabled people. Accessibility is based on universal design principles, which grew out of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, and was furthered by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Good design benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities.

For example, Activision is a popular video game company. In a Twitter thread, David Tisserand, the senior accessibility manager at Activision, indicated that 60% of video game players opted-in for subtitles in an “Assassin’s Creed” game. In a later game, when subtitles were enabled by default, only 5% of players opted-out of subtitles.

Subtitles allow the hard of hearing to experience media, but others also benefit. For example, non-native English speakers can read subtitles and follow along with the video easier than with audio narration alone. In a noisy restaurant, closed captions of media can allow diners to enjoy a sports match.

Accessibility increases the number of ways all people can access content.

"Accessibility costs too much so it is not worth trying"

It is true that OER is often developed on tight budgets, and it is also true that accessibility can be expensive to add LATE into a project. However, if OER designers consider accessibility from the outset, additional cost is reduced dramatically.

It is impossible to make something accessible for everyone, but each accessibility initiative allows more people to access your content. Many accessibility initiatives cost very little or nothing.

Consider this...

Another way to consider accessibility is the difference between doorknobs and door handles. Door handles are much more accessible than doorknobs because doorknobs require hand dexterity to grab the knob and turn it. Handles do not even require hands to open. A handle can be pushed down with an elbow or foot.

Accessibility benefits more than just those with disabilities. Imagine carrying a heavy box with both hands. When building a facility, knobs and handles cost the same up front, but door handles can let many more people access the building. Consider how much easier an automatic push button -such as those for wheelchair access- would make one’s life.

Our goal is that you will learn how to choose door handles or push buttons for your OER projects.

The Goal of UDL

The goal of UDL is to design curriculum that can be used and understood by everyone and to eliminate barriers in the learning environment to create learning experiences that are accessible to all people regardless of their difference. Disability is just one part of the UDL equation. 

CAST (2022) says: “UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone–not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.”  

UDL takes a ‘proactive’ approach. We design learning experiences that are accessible to ALL learners right from the start, without needing individual accommodation or modification later.  

The U.S. Congress in 2008 defined UDL as a “scientific framework” that: 

• Provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged 

• Reduces barriers in instruction 

• Provides appropriate accommodation, support, and challenges 

• Maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English proficient 

Systems

To understand why materials that are designed and created need to be accessible, also check out the sections on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Inclusivity.

The how to make things accessible requires a bit of understanding of the systems and tools used to disseminate and consume materials.

DISCLAIMER: Every attempt was made to make this section accessible. Links that are provided to further resources are NOT guaranteed to be accessible!

Web Based Systems

Browsers

Web accessibility in the USA is governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] (1990) Section 508. The World Wide Web Consortium works on disseminating the standards internationally while most countries also have their own regulations.

Regardless, not all browsers created equal. Each operating system has its own browser (Safari, Chrome, IE) and there are many independent browsers such as Firefox or DuckDuckGo. Materials created on one system, might not operate the same way on another browser. For additional information, review the current accessibility support status of HTML5.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

LMS is a system (software set-up) that organizations use to house educational materials that allows for easy dissemination and organization of materials. Here you can find the links to accessibility features to some of the LMS in use in educational institutions.

• Backboard Ally

• Canvas Accessibility

  • • Canvas Ally

•  iLearn

• Moodle

• Schoology

For more common LMS systems visit eLearning Industry.

Google Workspace

Google Classrooms are widely used in K-12 education, and Google Drive with its multiple products are used across professional and educational institutions. Google as a company strives to be accessible and is one of the most accessible products and systems that can be used for document or product sharing. When in doubt, using Google Workspace will likely allow for collaboration then other comparable products on the market.

Think of using a whiteboard for a virtual presentation? Google Jamboard will be more accessible for screen readers then Miro. Want to have collaborative notetaking? Google doc/spreadsheets will often work better then Padlet. Furthermore, Google products are web based, which means any one can access them as long as they have a device with internet capability.  to “For more on the accessibility of Google workspace, review the Google Workspace user guide to accessibility.

Choosing Accessible Materials

OER Textbooks

One substantial advantage of OER textbooks over traditional printed textbooks is that OER textbooks are distributed digitally. Digital distribution greatly improves accessibility, but there are a few additional considerations such as quality and access. Instructors and educators should begin with their own institutional resources. Florida State University has its own OER & Affordable Textbook Initiative. If there is a need for other materials OER Commons is an excellent place to begin the search for OER textbooks and learning materials. For more on how to choose good OER Textbooks visit Open Pedagogy [LINK], and see the infographic below.

Captions for live meetings

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) can be in-person or at a distance using technology to connect to live action to be able to caption to provide accessibility. Think of a hard of hearing person at a live meeting (in-person or on a video conferencing platform) or lecture, accessing what is being shared via speech through reading the captions on a computer screen or a braille device if blind additionally being hard of hearing.  When written transcripts are required post-meeting, due to potential mistakes during the live event, editing might be required.

Automatically generated captions

Think captions of a YouTube, Kaltura, ScreenOMatic recordings among others, do not meet accessibility requirements. After the automatic transcription is completed (based on speech recognition) by the system such as Zoom Video conferencing platform, significant editing is necessary by a human for accuracy (World Wide Web Consortium, 2022).

You Describe

YouDescribe is a project of The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. It was created by Dr. Joshua Miele. YouDescribe allows anyone to add audio description to any YouTube video without any alteration to the original. There are nuances to AD, and one should watch some videos with AD to learn to distinguish what is important and what is inconsequential to be described. There is Wishlist option on the website where one can make a request for AD for a specific video if they do not feel up to trying AD themselves. The only drawback to the Wishlist is that the wait might be substantial.

Text and Documents

Using texts allows all users to access materials more easily. Text allows for searches (i.e.: keywords, replace words, or context searches), allows for effective use of assistive technologies, selective or complex enlargement of the text, and can be translate it into foreign languages. Images (i.e.: screenshots, non-OCR-ed PDF) of text make accessing the document difficult for everyone and exclude those who rely on assistive technologies. It also problematizes effective sharing and remixing materials, areas of the 5Rs of OERs. The next section describes the basics of how to make a variety of texts accessible.

Powerpoint

PowerPoint (PPT) accessibility begin with creating a master slide deck where design elements can be added, and delegated into the background, effectively flattening the image. In essence adding design into the back will not require Alt Text for any design elements added to the slides. Slide master lives under View where background, fonts, and design can be changed.

Learn how to make your PowerPoint Presentations accessible to people with disabilities.

Portable Document Format (PDF)

PDFs are a practical and easily distributable way to share documents, even large sizes, such as eBooks. They are highly reliable, as they can be opened on most computing devices and operating systems without losing its formatting, which is especially important when it comes to graphs, diagram, and tables. This reliability allows for better productivity and raise inclusivity by erasing the divide of available devices.

Please make note: scanned pages that are misaligned cannot be tagged or OCR’ed appropriately. However, many PDFs’ can be made accessible even if they are not saved properly, as long as they are not saved as images. Running an accessibility report can help pinpoint the issues and following the suggestion most can be fixed, beginning with appropriate Auto Tagging.

Further Resources

Beyond what you can find in the References section, you might find the following collection of resources useful to design accessible materials.

Disability Access

• American Council of the Blind. (2022). The audio description project. ACB- The Audio Description Project. https://adp.acb.org/about.html

• Collinge, R. (2021, August 17). How to design for color blindness. Momentive- Get Feedback. https://www.getfeedback.com/resources/ux/how-to-design-for-color-blindness/

• Foley, E. (2021, January 31). Understanding assistive technology: How does a blind person use the internet? Level Access. https://www.levelaccess.com/understanding-assistive-technology-how-does-a-blind-person-use-the-internet/

• National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE). (2022). GOALS benchmarking and planning tool. Utah State University Center for Persons with Disabilities. https://ncdae.org/goals/planningtool.php 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• Bartlett, M. B., & Suzanne Ehrlich, S. (2020, December 23). UDL + Design thinking = Designing for all learners. Association for Talent Development (ATD). https://www.td.org/insights/udl-design-thinking-designing-for-all-learners

• Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). (2022, February 10). CAST - Until learning has no limits®. CAST Inc. https://www.cast.org/

• Center for Teaching Innovation. (2022). Universal Design for Learning. Cornell University: Computing & Communications Center. https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/designing-your-course/universal-design-learning

• Posey, A. (2021, April 1). Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A teacher’s guide. Understood. https://www.understood.org/articles/en/understanding-universal-design-for-learning

• Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network. (2021, May 17). Home: UDL-IRN. https://udl-irn.org/

Web Accessibility

• Deque Systems. (2022). Web accessibility checklist. Deque University. https://dequeuniversity.com/checklists/web/

• Institute for Disability Research, Policy, and Practice. (2022). WebAIM: Web accessibility in mind. Utah State University. https://webaim.org/

• Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. (2021). Module 9: Accessibility. Open Washington: Open Educational Resources Network. http://www.openwa.org/module-9/

• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (2021). W3C Mission. W3C. https://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission.html#principles

Quality Matters

A Brief Overview (PowerPoint Slides)

Conclusion

When building OER materials, from the inception of the idea, set out to make them as accessible as possible to most of the population. After a while, it will become just a part of your process and it will not seem like a burden, financially or otherwise. Most importantly, your materials will be available to many more users than they might be otherwise.