Liz Miller & Kara Zirkle George Mason University Assistive Technology Initiative

Accessing Higher Ground (AHG) November 2011

Manager
Coordinator, IT Accessibility Coordinator, Accessible Media

Program Support Specialist

2 Accessible Media Assistants

Office of Disability Services

Accessible Text and Media Services for Students AT Assessments/Training for Students Community Outreach with local public schools

Office of Equity & Diversity Services

Accessible Text and Media Services for Staff/Faculty AT Assessments/Training for Staff/Faculty University-Wide Training Initiatives

University Libraries
AT Labs Training & Consultation

Learning Services
Sharing of adaptive technology AT Assessments/Training for students (registered/unregistered) Training for LS staff

Mason community (with or without documentation)

Informal assessments Overview of AT available for personal use

Faculty, staff and students with documented disabilities

Faculty/Staff - registered with the Office of Equity and Diversity

Services (OEDS) Students registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS)

Informal AT assessments Training software and equipment Training and technical resources

Accessible text & media

Web accessibility testing and accessibility workshops

Accessible text production Accessible media production Options for students on campus, in the classroom and at home, including Universal Design Web accessibility

Learning Disabilities, Visual Impairments and Mobility Impairments

To qualify to receive material in alternative formats, students, staff and faculty must have a documented print related disability. (Referrals are made by our Office of Disability Services and our ADA Coordinator.)

Learning disabilities related to reading Visual impairments Some mobility impairments Some other cognitive impairments

AccessText Bookshare University Partner VA HEAT

Much easier than it used to be!

AccessText Publisher Look-up Service BiblioVault Individual websites

Searches:
AccessText Network
Alternative Media Access

Project of AccessText http://www.accesstext. org/fedsearch.php

Center Bookshare CourseSmart Learning Ally National Library Service

Cut Scan (high speed) Capture Perfect - TIFF OCR ABBYY Pro OmniPage Pro Adobe Acrobat Pro Read & Write Gold WYNN (Other schools may utilize Kurzweil, Dolphin, etc.) Format PDF, Word, RTF, Text, WYNN Burn files to cd Rebind

Students are encouraged to sign up for individual memberships

Bookshare or students can request books through our free organizational membership (We are also university partners.)

Learning Ally cd players available for loan

NLS National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Image from: http://www.loc.gov/nls/digitalbooktraining/index.html

Students may scan or run basic OCR on their own materials with software at home or using WYNN or Read & Write Gold with flatbed scanners on campus.

New project of 2011

Working closely with

University libraries Distance Education

Best practices for faculty & instructional designers:

Pick legal media Pick the most accessible

Office of Disability

Services

option first Provide supporting materials Turn on Closed Captions

Closed captioning Transcription Synchronization Hearing Impairments access Comprehension, visual learners Those who have difficulty with note taking ESL
Image from http://www.docsoft.com/

Online request system Research

Library & copyright info Online searches

(Vendors for video description) Docsoft

Docsoft:AV

NCH software
Prism Video File Converter SoundTap Streaming Audio

Docsoft:TE

Recorder Debut Video Capture Golden Videos Flash Lynx Video Download Software Professional

Proofing & troubleshooting Returns

SkyDrive, email Flashdrives, DVDs Streaming server (in

progress)

Accommodations Pilot project Summer 2011

Training with 2 graduate

student assistants 1 Instructional Designer for Distance Education YouTube Recordings from our TV station Other

iTunes U Promotional materials on website Distance Education Other . . .

Issues:
Video Description

Delivery of projects
Copyrighted materials

Equipment & Software

Image from: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-Access-Workstations

Computer
Screen Magnification
Screen Readers Voice Recognition

Learning
Visual Learning
Writing software

Vision
Magnifiers
Braille Embossers Braille Displays

Head/Eye Controlled

Input On Screen Keyboards Touch Screens

Mobility
Adjustable Desks Large Key/Print

Communication
Amplification TDD/TTY Devices

From: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-AccessWorkstations

Keyboards Trackballs & Joysticks

AT Labs Libraries at each campus

WYNN Wizard Read & Write Gold JAWS ZoomText Dragon Naturally

Speaking CCTV Flatbed Scanner

Campus supported AT software in computer lab classrooms and testing Student purchased AT software for personal laptops CCTVs iPad apps

TextHelp Read & Write Gold

PC or Mac ($30 with Mason ID at Patriot Computers)

Bookshare (free membership)

Victor Reader Soft (free) READ:OutLoud (free) Read2Go app ($20)

Learning Ally ($100 membership)

ReadHear software (free) DAISY Players (cost varies) Learning Ally Audio App ($20)

NLS (free membership)

Digital and cassette player options

Other
Free software & demos Low to high cost AT

Demos
Students can try before

Text readers
i.e. Natural Reader,

ReadPlease

Screen readers
i.e. System Access to Go,

they buy X minutes, hours or days Download from web:

JAWS Read & Write Gold ZoomText

NonVisual Desktop Access

Request cd from website:

WYNN

 Designing facilities and services in such a way to meet the

needs for people with a broad range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics (i.e., age, reading ability, culture, etc.) reduces the need for special accommodations for patrons and even employees.
In the event that accommodations are needed, staff

should be able to support individuals with disabilities, respond to specific accommodations requests, and know who to contact if they have disability-related questions.

 Are staff trained in policies and procedures for providing accommodations to people with disabilities?
What is your plan? Is it written? Updated?

Are staff knowledgeable about other organizations, such as Talking Book and Braille libraries, that provide services to patrons with disabilities?
Do you have a readily available resource? Handout? Online?

Can the librarys electronic and information resources (i.e., web pages, online catalogs, databases, etc) be accessed by a variety of accessible technologies?
Have you had your resources tested?

Do videos developed or used in the library have captions?

 Increasing number of distance education courses PDF Accessibility Wizard (PAW) Plug-in installs directly into Adobe Acrobat Allows document creators to convert a scanned PDF document into a tagged, accessible PDF document Accessible Wizard for MS Office (not yet compatible with Office 2010) Plug-in installs directly into any MS Office app (i.e., Word, PPT) Walks document creator through issues within document and how to make them accessible

Built-in tools PC & Mac, Firefox Browser Audio Books & e-Books Bundled tools Read & Write Gold Web

PC
Keyboard shortcuts
Magnifier Contrast settings Narrator

Mac
Keyboard shortcuts
Magnification Contrast settings VoiceOver

On screen keyboard
Mouse keys, filter keys, sticky keys Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling

Mouse Keys, Slow Keys, Sticky Keys

Text to speech Talking calculator & clock On screen keyboard

/grammar check Ease of Access Center Speech recognition Text size Touch Speak in Office 2010

Inkwell
Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling

/grammar check, word completion Speech recognition

Image from - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Adobe Reader & Acrobat Read Out Loud

Firefox

Some accessibility features are dependent on the version of Firefox Free accessibility add-ons Firefox Accessibility Extension Glazoom magnifier No color N-Abled Web Accessibility Toolbar Page Zoom Buttons Extensions for Firefox: Fire Vox screen reader MozBraille screen reader (beta at present, not yet fully accessible plans to offer Braille, text to speech and magnified output)

Public domain works

i.e. Project Gutenberg

Audio Books
i.e. Audible.com

Commercial
Amazon (Kindle) Apple (iPad) Barnes & Noble (Nook) Sony (Reader)
**Important consideration: These resources vary in accessibility but work well for individual students on a case-by-case basis.

DAISY
Players and software

(i.e. Learning Ally)

Free Software

Amazon Kindle for PC ebook software for PC Kindle App for iPhone & iPod Touch Barnes & Noble eReader for Barnes & Noble eBooks Download for iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Mac and PC knfb Reading Technology Blio eReader software with text-tospeech Download for PCs, iPhone, iPod LexCycle Stanza ebook app for iPhone & iPod Touch Stanza Desktop ebook reader for Mac or PC

TextHelp Read & Write Gold

PC and Mac versions
Reading and writing tools Helpful for ESL MP3 creation

Voice recognition
Scanning Screenshot Reader Research and study tools

Inspiration-like tool
DAISY Reader Web apps

The Web has become a key resource for: classroom education, distance learning; job searching, workplace interaction; civic participation, government services; news, information, commerce, entertainment It is displacing traditional sources of information and interaction schools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the workplace; some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not. An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.

Virginia has state-specific laws governing the accessibility of government created and procured technology (Code of Virginia 2.2-2012 "Procurement of Information Technology", Code of Virginia 2.23500 "Information Technology Access Act", Code of Virginia 51.5-1 "Virginians with Disabilities Act"). These have been put into state-wide standards for Universities and agencies, which can be found on the VITA website. Just recently DoJ ADA created a settlement agreement with Fairfax County, VA to ensure accessibility of both physical and online material.

Do you use a Learning Management System? Do you add content to the course? Are you posting documents, videos, etc.? Do you use technology for your class assignments (i.e. blogs, websites, wikis, etc.)? Are you the author of a book used in class? Do you use visuals in the classroom that give important information pertaining to the class? Do you use webinars, other classroom capture or conferencing technology?

Do you influence or decide on technology purchases? Do you develop websites, applications or documentation? Do you oversee computer classroom settings? Do you manage others who may work on the above mentioned? Do you work in multimedia or telecommunications?

Posting, Distributing, Creating/Developing, Using, Maintaining. Inaccessible material!

Assistive technology is not a substitute for accessible material! AT + Accessible Materials = Equal Access Everyone is involved and anyone can be affected.

Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI)

4400 University Drive MSN 6A11 Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703-993-4329 Fax: 703-993-4743 E-mail: ati@gmu.edu Web: http://ati.gmu.edu, http://accessibility.gmu.edu, http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu

Accessible Text Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/accessible_text.cfm Accessible Media Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/media.cfm

Free to High Cost AT Resource Documents: http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/assistive_technology.html

Captioning & Video Description Resources: http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/captioning.html

Universal Design http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/universal_design.html