What Do We Mean By "Accessibility"?

Accessibility is about creating content (or alternative content) in ways that allow people with disabilities to use the Web. For a longer discussion of the meaning of accessibility, read this article "What we mean when we talk about accessibility."

The disabilities to keep in mind are:

Visual impairments – blindness, low vision, color-blindness
Hearing impairments – includes those who are deaf or hard of hearing
Impaired mobility – those with reduced motor skills or slow movement
Cognitive – learning disabilities which may include those who have difficulty concentrating

Web sites made accessible:

Can be read and understood more easily by screen readers (Screen readers are software that read out loud the content of documents and web pages)
Include headings so that screen reader users can scan a page or jump to key areas on a page
Have multi-media files that are captioned, transcripts for audio only files
Have extra code provided for data tables to decrease cognitive load for screen reader users
Have enough color contrast for low vision or color blind individuals
Can be navigated with a keyboard, not requiring a mouse. (This as well as many other accessibility features are controlled by the Learning Management system).

We'll help!

Instructors facing accessibility fixes that pose a work load issue are helped by the Instructional Accessibility Specialist in Distance Education and trained student workers to complete the tasks.

Documents such as Word, PDF or PowerPoint will be fixed for the instructor by the same DE staff.

A peek into a disabled person's INTERNET experience

In this introduction to the Screen Reader, you can watch and listen to a blind person navigate through a web page.

Simulate an Experience of Color Blindness:

This website lets you explore what it's like to be color blind.