a11y (digital accessibility)

This article explores common web accessibility barriers that are negatively impacting people with disabilities. These barriers can prevent people with disabilities from entering the workforce. The article's author is helping to conduct a study to help people who are blind or have low vision use assistive technology to overcome these barriers and attain employment. It will be interesting to learn of the study's results hopefully in 2025. #accessibility

I enjoyed Apple's Relay advertisement showcasing paralympic athletes and athletes without disabilities competing. The advertisement reflects the joy of competition and the freedom of attaining a state of flow. We all enjoy those feelings at our core. I also appreciate how their video player seamlessly supports audio descriptions, which is something YouTube still does not support. #accessibility

This article highlights how AI is transforming instructional design. A lot of the ideas brought up in the article like AI providing personalized or adaptive learning, tutoring, gamification, and AI-enhanced assessments can benefit students with learning disabilities or who are neurodiverse. As someone with ADHD receiving immediate feedback and lessons that use a variety of mediums to convey key concepts can help me stay engaged. #accessibility

This website has a lot of helpful information about the ADA. I found this research article interesting because it summarizes the need for accessible online classes and how students in K-12 are more likely to request accommodations than in college. #accessibility

The W3C Accessibility Principles page breaks down the different principles of web accessibility. This includes perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. They also link to many helpful examples and design personas, which can help you consider a variety of users. hashtag #accessibility

AB1757 is the California law focused on requiring vendors to ensure that the websites they create for clients are accessible. If the website is not accessible the vendor would be liable. It has passed the first chamber and is currently in second committee review. #accessibility

This article provides some better questions to ask instead of "Is this accessible?" It is important to consider the standard you're using to define "accessible" like WCAG 2.1. Also, looking at a VPAT or testing the platform using assistive technology. #accessibility

Blake Bertuccelli-Booth & Kevin Andrews provide a demo of inaccessible and accessible forms. They highlight the importance of labels for form elements and the impact they have on web accessibility. hashtag#accessibility

The closure of the Access Text Network earlier this year has made it more difficult for higher education disability offices to provide accessible books. Luckily, the University of Virginia has launched Educational Materials Made Accessible (EMMA), which is trying to become a replacement.

Articulate Rise has now added support for multiple headings beyond H3. Check out the article for more details.

This article highlights the work Tufts student Ryan Beckett is doing developing different assistive technology products like a one-handed kitchen cutting board. #accessibility

Assistive technology is much broader than just screen reading software. This article reminds us of the wide array of assistive technologies people use every day. This is also why it is important to include people with different disabilities when testing a website or application. You may find that something that works with a screen reader does not work when using voice control. #accessibility

f you are building courses using Articulate Rise I recommend checking out this resource to learn more about how to ensure your course is accessible. #accessibility

If you are looking to track accessibility features or bugs in Jupyter Notebooks, I recommend checking out this GitHub page. There is also one for Jupyter Lab too. #accessibility

The Marrakesh Treaty has led to countries opening up their copyright laws and allowing the reproduction of accessible books. However, there are still many limitations. For example, 18.7% of the participating countries have a commercial availability check, and 38% have a secondary law that might require a check. Hopefully, the European Accessibility Act fully taking effect in June, 2025 will lead to a proliferation of accessible books provided by publishers. #accessibility

This study explores Finnish higher education institutions' websites to determine if they comply with recent web accessibility legislation that requires them to meet AA WCAG 2.1 standards. After 1.5 years of transition time, Finnish institutions are still not fully compliant. There are major accessibility gaps between different institutions. This research may predict what will occur when the ADA's new rule comes into effect.

This article by Lainey Feingold highlights companies that have taken advantage of Structured Negotiation and have collaboratively worked with the blind community to improve the accessibility of their mobile applications. This includes businesses like Major League Baseball, Bank of America, Weight Watchers, and WellPoint. #accessibility

This article helps highlight why trying to improve screen reader pronunciation can create more problems than it solves. #accessibility

I think Toyota's assembly line vs General Motors's assembly line is an analogy that relates to the importance of being proactive about digital accessibility. Toyota revolutionized the assembly line because its workers were encouraged to stop the line if a problem occurred. GM had a policy that the line could never stop and they'd fix the car's issues after it was built. GM struggled to remediate its cars, while Toyota's cars became world renowned for being of high quality. This can be applied to digital accessibility. Teams should prioritize ensuring their product is accessible from the start rather than creating an inaccessible product that needs to be remediated afterwards. #accessibility https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/transcript

This is a great article on why accessibility audits are inefficient, time consuming, and expend more resources. This is because accessibility audits are part of a reactive approach that focuses on fixing issues after the webpage, app, or course is created. It is much easier and efficient to be proactive and make accessibility a priority from the start. This will lead to higher quality content that can be accessed by a wide range of users. #accessibility https://yatil.net/blog/the-infuriating-inefficiency-of-accessibility-audits#fn-2

Newsweek included an option piece about the importance of digital accessibility on the eve of the passage of the ADA. I'm glad digital accessibility is being covered by more mainstream sources. It should be on everyone's radar. #accessibility

Check out the University of Wisconsin's accessibility and usability information. They share a summary of the accessibility barriers they have found from their accessibility evaluations of different vendors. This can be beneficial if you are a smaller institution that can't afford to do your own testing or are curious about the accessibility of a specific product.

When you turn on wheelchair accessible routes in Google Maps it will notify you of any accessibility barriers on your route like a broken elevator. The article also highlights other new features Google has rolled out recently.

This documentary highlights the horrible treatment people with disabilities experience when they try to fly. It is common for people with disabilities to have their mobility devices broken by the airline or to be manhandled into a seat. We need an Ed Roberts-like figure to take on the big airline corporations to make them provide a humane experience. Each airline should offer an accessible wheelchair seat and train their staff to value all their customers.

JAWS has added an AI feature that can describe images. Users can activate the feature by Pressing INSERT+SPACEBAR, P, then ENTER. It can be used to describe what is being displayed on the screen. It is not perfect but a way of getting additional information when no alt text is available. I believe this kind of AI feature may eventually become standard across screen reading software.