Part 1 of a 3-part presentation prepared for the 2021 eLearning Summer Institute at Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA. Presents the basic requirements for developing accessible course content in higher education, including a timeline of developments in accessibility, accessibility law, and general methods to create accessible content.

1. AGENDA
Learn the basic
requirements for
accessibility in higher ed
and explore Canvas tools
you can use to identify
inaccessible content in
your courses.

2. Introduction to
Accessibility in
Education
Helping all students to bloom
eLearning Summer Institute 2021

3. C. Blaise Mitsutama
blaise.mitsutama@bellevuecollege.edu
LMS Administrator / Instructional Designer
Tombolo Institute at Bellevue College
Bellevue College Community Education

4. Session Objectives
1. Explain the benefits of Accessible thinking and design.
2. Recognize the laws related to Accessibility.
3. Locate and use tools and resources that support
Accessibility.
After this session, you will be able to:

5. “Laziness is the
first step
towards
efficiency.”
 Patrick Bennett

6. 1:30 pm-2:30 pm
Creating Accessible Documents
Styles and Accessibility
• Page Headers and Footers
• Using Styles
• Table of Contents
• Ordered Lists
• Color and meaning
• Contrast for legibility
• Applying Table Styles
Using templates
• Word templates (.dotm)
• Template files (.docx)
• Style Sets

7. 2:45 pm-3:45 pm
Creating Accessible Slideshows
Plan your slide deck
• To share or not to share
• Delivery method
Tips and techniques
• Accessibility tips for:
• Alt Text
• Slide titles
• Color and conveying
meaning
Create a template
• Use the Slide Master
• .pptx or .potx

8. 1. Definitions and distinctions
“That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
Shakespeare, 1599/1914, 2.2.47-48

9. Accessibility vs. accessibility
Accessibility
A way of formatting or structuring
content to comply with legal
requirements that support the disabled.
accessibility1 (See Notes section for all footnotes.)
• The quality of being easy to obtain or
use.
• The quality of being easily understood or
appreciated.
• The quality of being easily reached,
entered or used by people who have a
disability.

10. Universal vs. Inclusive vs.
Accessible Design

11. Universal Design2
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.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)3
…[A] framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all
people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

12. Inclusive Design4
Unlike universal design, there are not yet generally agreed-upon
definitions for inclusive design, or the practices it encompasses.
Definition … from the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD U in
Toronto:
“We have defined Inclusive Design as: design that considers the full range of
human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other
forms of human difference.”

13. Accessible Design5
Accessibility is focused on ensuring that there are no barriers to serving
someone, through creating accommodations that solve a technical,
design, physical, or cognitive barrier to engaging with a product or
service.
Accessibility also includes testing the usability of products for different
groups and implementing changes that help all users. … And true
accessibility not only goes beyond serving people who are often
commonly referred to as ‘disabled’ but helps improve access for
everyone.

14. 2. Benefits of Accessible
thinking timeline

15. How Accessibility benefits everyone
“Accessibility Matters.” Minnesota IT Services. Audio-described. YouTube.com. 2m 36s

16. 1808 First typewriter
Photo credit: Voltamax on Pixabay.com

17. 1886 From punch cards to IBM
Photo credit: Herman Hollerith, circa 1888 on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hollerith.jpg
Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), ca. 1849-1893, photographer.

18. 1935 First talking book

19. 1948 Invention of the
Transistor
Photo credits: See notes

20. 1972 First open-
captioned program
Photo credit: Lynn Gilbert

21. 1972 Communicating
by text on a computer
Photo credit: The Royal Society

22. 1986 First screen reader
Photo credit: xxolaxx on Pixabay.com

23. 1988 Picture-based
keyboards
Photo credit: Anders on Wikipedia.org

24. 3. Accessibility law in the U.S.

25. Issues that result in lawsuits
• Inaccessible PDFs
• Videos with no captions, delivered in inaccessible media players (controls without labels, not operable
by keyboard)
• Use of inaccessible websites, apps, and learning management systems (LMS)
• Insufficient alt text on images
• Form fields with no labels
• Accessibility features missing from the content within course management systems
• Use of technologies and materials that are not accessible to screen readers

26. A typical lawsuit
Louisiana Tech University
Complaint filed with: DOJ
Resolved: 2013
Complaint: Inaccessibility of course materials

27. NAD vs. Harvard and NAD vs. MIT
“Notably, these lawsuits were the first of
their kind to address the accuracy and
quality of the captions provided.”
“Overview of NAD v. Harvard and NAD v. MIT Lawsuits.”
Jaclyn Leduc. March 25, 2020.

28. Lawsuits
More than 20 schools were sued between 2007 and 2017.
Most of the lawsuits resulted in resolution agreements,
settlement agreements, or consent decrees.

29. Rehabilitation Act of 1973
The Rehabilitation Act requires affirmative action in
employment by the federal government and by government
contractors and prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, in
programs receiving federal financial assistance, in federal
employment, and in the employment practices of federal
contractors. The standards for determining employment
discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act are the same as
those used in Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

30. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, ICT Accessibility
508 Standards
The 2017 revision to Section 508 updated standards for
information and communication technology (ICT). The four
major changes relate to:
1. WCAG compliance
2. Content accessibility
3. Synchronization
4. Expanded marketplace

31. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA
(42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits
discrimination based on disability. It affords similar
protections against discrimination to Americans with
disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, …. In
addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also
requires covered employers to provide reasonable
accommodations to employees with disabilities and
imposes accessibility requirements on public
accommodations.
Image links to web page.

32. Twenty-First Century Communications and
Video Accessibility Act of 2010
[T]he bill amended the Communications Act of 1934 to
include updated requirements for ensuring the accessibility of
"modern" telecommunications to people with disabilities.

33. Colorado is First State to Require State and Local
Government Websites to Meet Accessibility Standards
In July 2021, “Colorado became the first US state to require state and local
government websites to meet accessibility standards as established by the
state’s Chief Information Officer.”
Agencies will be required to submit an accessibility plan before July 1, 2022. The
plans are required to be fully implemented before July 1, 2024. Any agency not
in full compliance will be considered in violation of laws that prevent
discrimination against individuals with a disability. The bill also makes it easier
for an individual with a disability to bring a civil suit against noncompliant
agencies and the agency’s $3,500 statutory fine would be payable to the
plaintiff.

34. Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)

35. WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a product of the
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C).
“These guidelines provide standards for accessible web content
for individuals, organizations, and international governments.
These standards are helping to make accessibility the norm
when navigating digital platforms and websites for persons with
disabilities.”

36. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory
and visual content
Provide content that, when
presented to the user,
conveys essentially the same
function or purpose as
auditory or visual content.

37. Don't rely on color alone
Ensure that text and graphics
are understandable when
viewed without color.

38. Use markup and style sheets and do so
properly
Mark up documents with the proper structural elements.
Control presentation with style sheets rather than with
presentation elements and attributes.

39. Clarify natural language usage
Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of
abbreviated or foreign text.

40. Create tables that transform gracefully
Ensure that tables have
necessary markup to be
transformed by accessible
browsers and other user
agents.
HEADER ROW
COLUMN1 COLUMN2 COLUMN3 COLUMN4
Row1
Row2
Row3
Row4
Row5

41. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies
transform gracefully
Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer
technologies are not supported or are turned off.

42. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content
changes
Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating
objects or pages may be paused or stopped.

43. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user
interfaces
Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible
design: device-independent access to functionality, keyboard
operability, self-voicing, etc.

44. Design for device-independence
Use features that enable activation of page elements via a
variety of input devices.

45. Use interim solutions
Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive
technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.

46. Use W3C technologies and guidelines
Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow
accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C
technology, or doing so results in material that does not
transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the
content that is accessible.

47. Provide context and orientation information
Help users understand
complex pages or elements.

48. Provide clear navigation mechanisms
Provide clear and consistent
navigation mechanisms --
orientation information,
navigation bars, a site map,
etc. -- to increase the
likelihood that a person will
find what they are looking
for….

49. Ensure that documents are clear and simple
Ensure that documents are
clear and simple so they may
be more easily understood

50. 4. Plan and design with
Accessibility in mind

51. How will you share the content?
• Will you provide students with the native Word or PowerPoint files,
will you provide PDF versions, or do you prefer not to share the
actual presentation files?
• Will you deliver PowerPoint slides as a standard presentation, using
PowerPoint Live, or by creating a video?
• If you have fillable handouts, will you create the forms in Word or
use Adobe Acrobat?

52. Select images with intentionality
• Can increase content creation time.
• Minimally requires a decision whether they’re decorative or need
Alt Text.
• increases file size.
• May distract students’ attention from key learning points

53. Use transitions and animations sparingly
• Can be distracting.
• May make it more difficult for some students to track what you’re
presenting.
• Some animations may require layering objects or use of multiple
slides for the effect, which means the slide deck can’t be used “as-
is” for printed handouts.

54. General Tips, Tactics, and Techniques
1. When creating with Word or PowerPoint, …
2. Manage the file size of any shared documents.
3. Define technical terms and spell out acronyms when
they’re first introduced or provide a glossary.
4. Use color with care
5. Choose appropriate design elements

55. 5. Accessibility tools and
resources

56. A11y in Canvas - DEMO
Image links to Canvas course with A11y Accessibility Report link .

57. Accessibility Checker in Microsoft 365

58. VPAT
Image links to web page.
Also see example VPAT: https://www.google.com/sites/accessibility.html

59. Reflection on
Accessibility in
Education
Helping all students to bloom
• Think differently about
creating Accessible content.
• Your students should also be
aware of and create Accessible
content.

60. Questions?
If you have questions that aren’t
answered today, contact me:
blaise.mitsutama@bellevuecollege.edu