These include, but are not limited to, blindness, color blindness, and low vision. Color blindness includes red-green, blue-yellow and total color blindness. Low vision can be caused by eye diseases, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa. It can also be caused by injury or aging (e.g. blurriness of vision).
Summary of Best Practices
- Describe images
- Use good color contrast and legible fonts
- Use color in combination with shapes and or text when color is an indicator
- Provide transcripts for videos
- Provide descriptive and informative headings
- Provide descriptive and informative links
- Follow a linear and logical layout
- Use proper semantics (e.g. paragraphs, headings, lists, tables)
- Build assuming users can only use a keyboard; do not assume they can use a mouse
- Don’t force users to open documents outside webpages for all their information
References
Usage & Assistive Technologies
- WAI: How People with Disabilities Use the Web – Visual
- Web AIM: Visual Disabilities
- Web AIM: Visual Disabilities – How Blind People Use the Web
- Web AIM: Low Vision – Screen Magnifiers
- Web AIM: Low Vision – High Contrast
- Web AIM: Low Vision – Overriding Font and Background Colors
- Web AIM: Audio Descriptions
Screen Reader Clients
- VoiceOver for iOS
- TalkBack for Android
- Narrator for Windows
- NVDA for Windows
- JAWS for Windows
- Window-Eyes for Windows
Simulations
- User Simulation: Through Eyes of a Screen Reader
- LevelAccess Simulation: ZoomText Demo
- LevelAccess Simulation: Screen Magnification & Reflow in Acrobat Reader (also example of horizontal scrolling issues)
- LevelAccess Simulation: Screen Reader Language Support
- LevelAccess Simulation: Web Headings for Screen Readers
- LevelAccess Simulation: Effective Color Contrast
Resolution Agreements & Lawsuits
Articles mentioned here specifically include institutions of higher education in resolution agreements or lawsuits. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) documents are provide to define the concerns reported.
- (March 10, 2014) OCR. University of Montana-Missoula Resolution Agreement.
- (July 24, 2013) Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD). A Clear Standard Regarding DOJ Settlement with Louisiana Tech University Concerning Inaccessible Course Materials.
- (July 22, 2013) Settlement Agreement between the United States of America, Louisiana Tech University, and the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- (March 8, 2013) U.S. Department of Education: Civil Rights Agreement Reached with South Carolina Technical College System on Accessibility of Websites to People with Disabilities.
- (February 28, 2013) OCR. South Carolina Technical College System (SCTCS) Resolution Agreement.
- (2011) Penn State University. Settlement Between Penn State University and National Federation of the Blind.