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Electronic doors to education: Study of high school website accessibility in Iowa
Abstract
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of daily life, including education, work, and access to places of public accommodations. Increasingly, these antidiscrimination laws are used by persons with disabilities to ensure equal access to e-commerce, and to private and public Internet websites. To help assess the impact of the anti-discrimination mandate for educational communities, this study examined 157 website home pages of Iowa public high schools (52% of high schools in Iowa) in terms of their electronic accessibility for persons with disabilities. We predicted that accessibility problems would limit students and others in obtaining information from the web pages as well as limiting ability to navigate to other web pages. Findings show that although many web pages examined included information in accessible formats, none of the home pages met World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for accessibility. The most frequent accessibility problem was lack of alternative text (ALT tags) for graphics. Technical sophistication built into pages was found to reduce accessibility. Implications are discussed for schools and educational institutions, and for laws, policies, and procedures on website accessibility.
... INTRODUCTION Jakob Nielsen (Nielsen, 2000) argues that the homepage is the gateway to the website and therefore sets the tone of the entire website for the user. There are many studies of Web accessibility that evaluate only the homepages (Davis, 2002;Flowers, Bray, & Algozzine, 1999;Klein et al., 2003;J. Lazar et al., 2003;Jonathan Lazar & Greenidge, 2006;Loiacono & McCoy, 2006;Paris, 2006;Spindler, 2002;Yu, 2002), a selected handful of pages (Diaper & Worman, 2003;D. ...
... The rationale behind looking at only homepages is that the initial Web pages are gateways to major resources; if these pages are free from accessibility errors, they provide successful pathways to the information (Yu, 2002). Or, as stated in Klein et al. (Klein et al., 2003), if the home page is not accessible, the rest of the site probably isn't accessible. Similarly, Loiacono and McCoy (Loiacono & McCoy, 2006) The findings from this study will guide future evaluations of Web accessibility, specifically the lawsuits study described in the next chapter. ...
... These results demonstrate that evaluating the homepage alone is not sufficient when evaluating Web pages for accessibility. Previous studies using only the homepage in the analysis (Davis, 2002;Flowers et al., 1999;Klein et al., 2003;J. Lazar et al., 2003;Jonathan Lazar & Greenidge, 2006;Loiacono & McCoy, 2006;Paris, 2006;Spindler, 2002;Yu, 2002) may not have show the whole picture of accessibility. ...
A model is presented depicting the driving forces (Web industry, consumers, U.S. federal government, and technology) promoting an accessible Web and potential solutions within those forces. This project examines two distinct solutions, lawsuits (a consumer-driven solution) and AcceSS 2.1 transcoder (a technology-driven solution) to provide more information on two under-researched methods that could have far-reaching impacts on Web accessibility for the blind. First, an evaluation of the intraclass correlation (ICC) between homepage Web Accessibility Barrier (WAB) scores and WAB scores of levels 1-3 found that the homepage is not sufficient to detect the accessibility of the website. ICC of the homepage and average of levels 1-3 is 0.250 (p=0.062) and ICC of levels 1, 2, & 3 is 0.784 (p < 0.0001). Evaluating the homepage and first-level pages gives more accurate results of entire site accessibility. Second, an evaluation of the WAB scores of the homepage and first-level pages of websites of five companies sued for alleged inaccessible websites found mixed results: lawsuits worked in two cases, but didn't in three. This is seen through an examination of accessibility and complexity of the websites for years surrounding the lawsuits. Each sued website is compared to a control website within the same industry and to a random group of websites representing the general Web. Third, a usability study of the AcceSS 2.1 transcoding intermediary found that technology can increase users' efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction in Web interaction, regardless of universal design. The study entails a within-subject cross-over design wherein 15 users performed tasks on three websites: one universally designed, one non-universally designed, and one reference site. Paired t-tests examine the effect of AcceSS 2.1 on time, errors, and subjective satisfaction and mixed-model analysis examines the effect of study design on outcomes. Results show that users perform tasks faster, with fewer errors, and with greater satisfaction when accessing pages via AcceSS 2.1, but users where less satisfied with the universally designed website and significant differences were found in the universally designed website and not the non-universally designed website. Website usability and ease of navigation are more important to users than simple accessibility.
... Graphic images that convey imbedded information are not accessible to persons with significant visual impairments (Burgstahler, Corrigan, & McCarter, 2006). Audio conferencing may exclude persons with speech impairments, or persons with hearing impairments in the absence of closed captioning (Burgstahler, Corrigan, & McCarter, 2004;Klein, et al., 2003). Video presentations without closed captioning or a live sign language interpretor (onsite or remotely) pose these same barriers to persons with hearing impairments (Burgstahler, et al., 2006). ...
... Using cascading style sheets as the basis for accessible Web page templates, "standardizes and simplifies the formatting of each page," reduces time to build a new accessible page, and simplifies navigation for a person using a screen reader or a keyboard without a mouse (Burgstahler, et al., 2006). Alternative text tags provide screen readers access to information imbedded in graphics (Klein, et al., 2003). ...
... Designers must understand the range of barriers (e.g., fine motor, visual, stamina, hearing, attention, memory, and others) for students with disabilities that arise with online learning opportunities, and how these affect course content, presentation, and web page formatting (Klein, et al., 2003;Samant, et al., 2006). For example, people with visual disabilities need descriptions for graphics; adequate space around links might be necessary for people who have fine motor difficulties using a mouse, and high rates of flickering or motion on a web site may induce a seizure for persons with seizure disorders, or prove highly distracting for persons with Attention Deficit Disorder (Klein, et al.;Wall & Sarver, 2003). ...
Technological advancement has broadened educational, employment and training opportunities for students and adults with disabilities via distance education. Distance education is a prized tool of K-12 and higher education, and for vocational training and research. Advancing knowledge of accessible technology and universal design concepts have coincided with the distance education movement, and with a federal mandate for accessible technology under Section 508 of the amended Rehabilitation Act. However, studies of website accessibility and universal applications designed to deliver online learning question whether these tools permit equal and effective participation by people
... Both the McCord and IBM studies find that even though a Web page complies with standard accessibility guidelines, it may still be difficult to read using an accessibility tool. Klein, et al. (2003) tested the accessibility of 157 public high school Web site home pages. Only 7.6 percent of the home pages passed the most basic level of accessibility as defined by the W3C. ...
... Bobby was chosen for this study, in part, because it is a very widely used tool in accessibility studies. It has been used in a number of Web accessibility studies, including: Coonin (2002), Craven (2000), Guthrie (2000), Jackson-Sanborn, et al. (2002), Klein, et al. (2003), Lilly and VanFleet (1999), Loiacono andMcCoy (2004), McCord, et al., (2002), Schmetzke (2000 and, and Williams and Rattray (2003). The use of Bobby in this study enables an elementary level of cross comparison of results between these studies of a large variety of Web sites. ...
... The home page of each Web site was evaluated by Bobby to determine if the page complies with the W3C -WCAG. Home page evaluation is common in accessibility studies, including studies by Becker (2005), Klein, et al. (2003), Loiacono and McCoy (2004), and Schmetzke (2001). In addition, the home page is an excellent indicator of the overall accessibility of a Web site when multiple levels of Web pages are evaluated with Bobby (Williams and Rattray, 2003). ...
Web accessibility has become an important issue since the dramatic rise in the use of the Web. Web accessibility deals with overcoming barriers users with disabilities face when trying to access information on Web sites. The U.S. has passed laws relating to Web accessibility to improve the usability of the Internet for disabled users. Technical advancements have improved assistive tools such as page readers for users with disabilities, but accessibility requires more than assistive tools. Web page design causes many accessibility problems. This study examines the accessibility of the home pages of the official government Web sites of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on the assumption that government Web sites should be an example for other organizations to follow regarding Web accessibility. However, nearly a third of the home pages tested did not meet the most fundamental requirements for Web accessibility. Fixes for many of these accessibility problems require rather minor adjustments to underlying page code.
... argues that the homepage is the gateway to the web site and therefore sets the tone of the entire web site for the user. There are many studies evaluating the accessibility of the web for people with disabilities that have included only the homepages (Davis, 2002;Flowers et al., 1999;Lazar et al., 2003;Lazar and Greenidge, 2006;Loiacono and McCoy, 2006;Klein et al., 2003;Paris, 2006;Spindler, 2002;Yu, 2002), a selected handful of pages (Diaper and Worman, 2003;Sloan et al., 2002;Thompson, 2003), or limit the levels of pages of the web site being evaluated (Jackson-Sanborn et al., 2002;Hackett et al., 2004). One can look at the homepage of a site as being the "doorway" into the site as was done in Yu (2002). ...
... The rationale behind looking at only homepages is that the initial web pages are gateways to major resources; if these pages are free from accessibility errors, they provide successful pathways to the information (Yu, 2002). Or, as stated in Klein et al. (2003), if the home page is not accessible, the rest of the site probably is not accessible. Similarly, Loiacono and McCoy (2006) felt that homepage evaluation was appropriate because visitors are most likely to enter through a homepage and, if the homepage is not accessible the accessibility of the remainder of the site becomes irrelevant. ...
... These results demonstrate that evaluating the homepage alone is not sufficient when evaluating web pages for accessibility. Previous studies using only the homepage in the analysis (Davis, 2002;Flowers et al., 1999;Lazar et al., 2003;Lazar and Greenidge, 2006;Loiacono and McCoy, 2006;Klein et al., 2003;Paris, 2006;Spindler, 2002;Yu, 2002) may not have shown the whole picture of accessibility. However, the WAB scores for levels 1, 2, and 3 of these web sites are highly correlated and previous Homepage not enough studies that included more pages than just the homepage (Diaper and Worman, 2003;Sloan et al., 2002;Thompson, 2003), if even a limited number of deeper pages (Jackson-Sanborn et al., 2002;Hackett et al., 2004), may have provided better estimates of the accessibility of the web sites under evaluation. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to determine if the homepage of a web site is representative of the whole site with respect to accessibility.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper presents an intraclass correlation (ICC) between homepage web accessibility barrier (WAB) scores and the WAB scores of web site levels 1 through 3 for 33 popular web sites.
Findings
– The paper finds that the homepage is not sufficient to detect the accessibility of the web site. ICC of the homepage and average of levels 1‐3 is 0.250 (p=0.062) and ICC of levels 1, 2, and 3 is 0.784 (p<0.0001). Evaluating the homepage and first‐level pages gives more accurate results of entire site accessibility.
Originality/value
– This is first study correlating homepage accessibility with web site accessibility.
... As the most prominent, front-facing aspect of an IHE's web presence, institutional websites should be good examples of accessible resources that allow students, alumni, and prospective students to learn more about the university and to access available resources. However, preliminary work in this area has found that IHE websites are not uniformly accessible and often do not incorporate simple accessibility considerations into their designs (Harper and DeWaters 2008;Kane et al. 2007;Klein et al. 2003;Krach 2007;Thompson et al. 2013). The severity and ubiquity of this inaccessibility is not well established in existing research. ...
... Similar studies among K-12 institutions have yielded comparably poor results. One study found that only 14% of school home pages (n = 326) were accessible (Krach and Milan 2009), and a second study found that no studied schools (n = 159) met W3C requirements (Klein et al. 2003). Though K-12 institutions are certainly different from higher education institutions, patterns of disregard for accessibility seem to be discernible across the education spectrum and should be alarming for those interested in providing open access to all potential learners. ...
This study seeks to evaluate the basic Priority 1 web accessibility of all college and university websites in the US (n = 3141). Utilizing web scraping and automated content analysis, the study establishes that even in the case of high-priority, simple-to-address accessibility requirements, colleges and universities generally fail to make their sites accessible. Results should be used to determine reasonable and simple steps for moving toward accessible design in institutional websites, which is necessary to ensure that institutional resources can be open and useable by all.
... Esto generó que la discapacidad empezara a ser analizada como una enfermedad que debía ser tratada y "curada" por la sociedad. Esta perspectiva de la discapacidad duró cerca de un siglo y llevó a que la sociedad se acostumbrara a considerar a las PSD como individuos sin capacidad, lo que imposibilitó o dificultó enormemente su entrada a escenarios laborales, educativos, culturales, etc. Osa-Edoh (2013) reconoce que los avances en las concepciones sobre discapacidad tienen un lento desarrollo, precisamente porque necesitan cambiar todo el imaginario social.Después de ello, se pasó al modelo social, en el que se considera que la discapacidad está asociada más con aquellas barreras ambientales y sociales que limitan la autonomía individual y obstaculizan la integración y participación social efectiva de las PSD que con la misma condición biológica(Klein et al., 2003). En este enfoque, se asume que, si se eliminan las barreras existentes, las PSD podrían integrarse y participar en la comunidad, por lo que centra su atención en la sociedad y no en los individuos. ...
En este artículo se muestran algunas de las barreras para la incorporación laboral de personas en situación de discapacidad física en las organizaciones de servicio público, concretamente para aspirantes a conductores en el Sistema Integrado de Transporte Público de Bogotá, Colombia. La base de este texto es una investigación cualitativa, empírica, exploratoria, de caso, enmarcada en los estudios organizacionales (EO), que aporta en la comprensión de una problemática que no se encuentra suficientemente definida. En ella se tiene como sustento la interpretación y el interés de profundización sobre datos obtenidos a través del diálogo directo con algunas personas inmersas en el fenómeno, por lo cual no realiza generalizaciones. Entre los principales obstáculos están los siguientes: el bajo nivel educativo que no permite la inclusión; la educación no mantiene procesos de formación ni infraestructuras incluyentes; la exclusión de género; prejuicios sobre sus “limitaciones”, que generan desprecio; e imaginarios sociales y organizacionales negativos, que suscitan discriminación activa y desmotivación en la población para optar por los empleos.
... Apart from government websites, a number of researchers have focused on different websites for accessibility testing, such as corporate website accessibility [37,38], education website accessibility [33,18,46,15,27,26,34], microfinance institution website accessibility [45]. Websites should also act as a platform for citizen engagement [31]. ...
The Internet has revolutionized how users are able to work and gather information. In modern world, information is available on a mouse click. This is all possible due to the huge gamut of information available on the web. While websites are designed to be informative, accessibility is an important criterion that is overlooked during website design. This paper makes the following contributions: (1) The accessibility of the home page of government websites of Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies of the world including the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Canada as well as Group of BRICS countries which includes five major emerging economies of the world including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa has been analyzed (2) The results of G7 government website accessibility analysis have been compared with that of BRICS countries and further processed to examine the findings Group-wise, country-wise, ministry-wise and WCAG Principle-wise. (3) Major flaws in the existing website designs have been identified and recommendations for improvement in the government websites have been given. The paper reveals that BRICS countries are not behind in terms of compliance of WCAG guidelines related to the accessibility of websites. The major flaws in compliance with guidelines were associated with robustness, which can be overcome by making websites more compatible with different devices and adopting the suggested measures.
... En matière d'accessibilité des environnements en ligne, les travaux de recherche rendent compte du nombre réduit de sites Internet, en particulier les sites gouvernementaux, satisfaisant le niveau minimum des recommandations internationales d'accessibilité (Kelly & al., 2002(Kelly & al., , 2007Klein & al., 2003 ;Adam & Kreps, 2006 ;Grif th & al., 2008 ;Harper & Yesilada, 2008). En 2005, une évaluation réalisée sur 486 sites gouvernementaux au sein de l'Union européenne 1 indique que seulement 3 % des sites accèdent au premier niveau d'accessibilité (niveau A). ...
... Website availability is referred to as the correct technical functioning of a site (Alwi and Ismail, 2013). University websites are used by a diverse population including existing and prospective students, academic and administrative staff, parents, people from the community, industries, and government administration, etc.; hence, the website needs to be designed in an easily accessible format (Klein et al., 2003). ...
This study examines (i) the role of students' value co-creation behaviour in contributing to a university's image and reputation, (ii) the significant role that a university website plays in engaging students' value co-creation behaviour, and (iii) the importance of identifying different types of customer value co-creation behaviour (i.e. participation behaviour and citizenship behaviour). Drawing upon a sample of 285 students from a London-based university and using partial least squares structural equation modelling, the findings argue that a university website is critical to generate students' co-creation behaviour. The research findings confirm the positive impact from website features on customer participation behaviour and customer citizenship behaviour; however, website applications and features have different impacts on the dimensions of customer value co-creation behaviour, i.e. customer participation and citizenship behaviour. This study asserts the pivotal role of students' value co-creation behaviour in creating and sustaining university brand image and reputation. This research is particularly useful for higher education (HE) institutions, by investigating and investing in their website design they can enhance students' co-creation behaviour in the context of the increasingly competitive UK HE market. Based upon the findings, this paper offers managerial implementations for decision-makers, brand managers, graphic and web designers who wish to understand the relationship between a website and its outcomes, especially relating to corporate image and reputation.
... Sekolah negeri maupun swasta menggunakan website dengan tujuan untuk menawarkan informasi berupa jadwal, kontak personil sekolah, dan materi kepada siswa, keluarga, guru, dan staf. Beberapa komunitas lokal sekolah juga bergantung pada informasi dari website sekolah (Klein et al., 2003). Dalam penggunaan website pemahaman konten merupakan salah satu komponen yang penting. ...
... Although research exploring school counseling websites and their content for diverse stakeholders is absent, three studies have examined whether institutional or college counseling websites had content for diverse populations (Bidell, Ragen, Broach, & Carrillo, 2007;Wilson & Meyer, 2009;Wright & McKinley, 2011). Four other research teams investigated websites for accessibility to students with disabilities and found that most did not meet accessibility criteria (Flowers, Bray, Furr, & Algozzine, 2002;Hartshorne, Friedman, Algozzine, & Isibor, 2006;Hartshorne, Friedman, Algozzine, & Kaur, 2008;Klein et al., 2003). Although those four teams did not focus on website content for students with disabilities, their research reflected recognition of the importance of creating websites that meet the needs of all students. ...
The 12 diversity dimensions of the ASCA Ethical Standards (ASCA, 2010) provided a framework for examining whether a statewide sample of high school counseling websites (N = 312) had content for diverse students and their families. Many websites offered little content related to those dimensions, and content was especially low for some groups including LGBT students and immigrant students. Findings indicate a need for school counseling websites to have nondiscrimination statements, text/documents, links, and financial aid information for diverse populations.
... Public and private sector service providers have yet to ensure that persons with disabilities have full and equal access to web content (Bertot, Jaeger, & Hansen, 2012;De Andrés et al., 2010;Green & Huprich, 2009;Jaeger, 2004aJaeger, , 2004bJaeger, , 2008Johnson & Ruppert, 2002;Klein et al., 2003;Kuzma, 2010;Lazar et al., 2010;Olalere & Lazar, 2011;Ritchie & Blanck, 2003 Yu, 2002). Web accessibility research has focused on the application of antidiscrimination laws (Blanck, 2014b;Easton, 2012Easton, , 2013aEaston, , 2013bNoble, 2002;Schaefer, 2003;Wall & Sarver, 2003;Wentz, Jaeger, & Lazar, 2011). ...
Access to the Internet has become a sine qua non-of everyday life. It also offers new routes to economic and social inclusion for disabled people. Research on the digital divide shows that social factors affect Internet access but disability status is often overlooked. This paper assesses the extent to which disability makes a difference and how it interacts with other social effects to produce distinctive forms of digital exclusion. The analysis uses survey data from 27 European countries to explore and model, statistically, the interactions between Internet access, disability status, age, gender, education, household financial situation and household composition. Multilevel analysis confirms that socio-demographic factors can explain much variance in outcomes but there is a distinctive disability effect. In particular, the adverse effects of financial constraint, aging and living alone are exacerbated among disabled people. New policies to strengthen e-accessibility, arising from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and from the European Union, are important but cannot ignore those who are still excluded from the online revolution. Disabled people are over-represented in this group. The evidence suggests that both accessible technologies and appropriate supportive relationships are needed to address this.
... Thus, learning technologies can bring flexibility and adaptability to higher education, empowering disabled learners, improving access and making the experience of education more equitable (Evans 2002;Klein et al. 2003;O'Connor 2000). However, online learning can also provide additional barriers through expectations of the users' the ability to interact with systems, rapid changes in technologies and the plethora of options available both to the developers and users of online systems. ...
Online resources for education offer opportunities for those with disabilities but also raise challenges on how to best adjust resources to accommodate accessibility. Automated reconfiguration could in principle remove the need for expensive and time-consuming discussions about adaptation. On the other hand, human-based systems provide much needed direct support and can help understand options and individual circumstances. A study was carried out within an EU-funded accessibility project at The Open University (OU) in parallel with studies at three other European universities. The study combined focus groups, user-testing, management consultation and student survey data to help understand ways forward for accessibility. The results reinforce a holistic view of accessibility, based on three factors: positioning the university as a positive provider to disabled students; developing processes, systems and services to give personal help; and planning online materials which include alternatives. The development of a model that helps organisations incorporate professionalism in accessibility is described, though challenges remain. For example, a recurrent difficulty in providing adequate self-description of accessibility needs implies that a completely automated solution may not be attainable. A more beneficial focus, therefore, may be to develop systems that support the information flow required by the human "in the loop."
... En matière d'accessibilité des environnements en ligne, les travaux de recherche rendent compte du nombre réduit de sites Internet, en particulier les sites gouvernementaux, satisfaisant le niveau minimum des recommandations internationales d'accessibilité (Kelly & al., 2002(Kelly & al., , 2007Klein & al., 2003 ;Adam & Kreps, 2006 ;Grif th & al., 2008 ;Harper & Yesilada, 2008). En 2005, une évaluation réalisée sur 486 sites gouvernementaux au sein de l'Union européenne 1 indique que seulement 3 % des sites accèdent au premier niveau d'accessibilité (niveau A). ...
Accessibility for use and accessibility in use
Accessibility can be identified as the offering of equal rights, equal opportunities and full participation for all citizens in society. As a social issue, accessibility is situated within an important legal and normative framework that covers all dimensions of human activities, including employment, working conditions, access to the built environment, transport, use of resources, online education and training. However, whilst directives, regulations and technical standards specify the desirable characteristics of environments, such as built environment, transport, public spaces and new technologies, they do so in a disjointed way. Thus, accessibility can bring a universal approach to the inclusion of all in society; however, in reality, it is implemented in a piecemeal fashion. Because it extends across different areas and is included in the diverse and evolutionary dynamics of people, accessibility can be tackled within the approach developed by francophone ergonomics. Such a systemic approach focuses on the intrinsic and aims to contribute to a design environment that is accessible to everyone. We begin with a definition of accessibility and identify the reasons why this issue is of interest to ergonomics. We then present the legislative policy changes that have occurred in the fields of disability and accessibility in recent decades. Finally, we discuss the problem of accessibility in terms of designing appropriate situations for everyone through the bringing together of accessibility‑for‑use and accessibility‑in‑use criteria. Our proposal is grounded on the historical contributions from the fields of ergonomics and psychology on which it draws.
... Parents can learn about the development of academic and co-curricular activities by browsing the website (Chambers, Threlfall, and Roper, 2012),Parents can contact teachers via e-mail through the school website. Klein, Myhill, Hansen, Asby, Michaelson, and Blanck (2003) suggestedthe relationship between parents and the school could be improved indirectly as well. Parents can no longer use the excuse of being busy when they fail to visit the school to talk about their children as they have online access to the school via the website. ...
School Webmastersmainduty is to understand the school website needs. Marcus (2000)Their focuses is to help schools provide their communities and constituents with timely and informative websites, Developing the functional architecture, implement intuitive navigation, write professional content, and design a custom website that reflects the school style and brand.(Hasley, 2010).Accordingly, a school website serves as an effective platform on which to publicize activities implemented for students, teachers, and other interested parties within the academe (Zaharim, 2000). An excellent school website can be built through cooperation between the school administrator and the webmaster; such cooperation facilitates the effective communication of information to students and other visitors of the website (Jurkowski, 2003).This study aims to describe the effect of the School Websites back ground of websites maintained by 40 secondary schools in the Gaza (Palestine) region. This study employs a descriptive survey that uses questionnaires that cover aspects of quality in the construction of a school website. The questionnaires are distributed to webmasters in secondary schools in Gaza through e-mail or post (for school websites that do not disclose their e-mail addresses). The websites used in this study are only those accessible to the public. All findings are collected and summarized to clearly describe the quality of the websites of Gaza schools.
... high-quality and effective support mechanisms for the learning process (Chambers, Threlfall, and Roper, 2012), their compliance with global best practices is analyzed in the present study by using descriptive statistics (Table 1). 2008). School information is an important component of global best practices in secondary school websites in the state. Klein, Myhill, Hansen, Asby, Michaelson, and Blanck (2003) suggested that users continually visit a website with useful information. Therefore, information in all websites should be well organized. ...
A website serves as a gateway that provides useful content and links to various sites and their features through the Internet. Accordingly, a school website serves as an effective platform on which to publicize activities implemented for students, teachers, and other interested parties within the academe. An excellent school website can be built through cooperation between the school administrator and the webmaster; such cooperation facilitates the effective communication of information to students and other visitors of the website. This study aims to describe the quality of websites maintained by 40 secondary schools in the Gaza (Palestine) region. This study employs a descriptive survey that uses questionnaires that cover aspects of quality in the construction of a school website. The questionnaires are distributed to webmasters in secondary schools in Gaza through e-mail or post (for school websites that do not disclose their e-mail addresses). The websites used in this study are only those accessible to the public. All findings are collected and summarized to clearly describe the quality of the websites of Gaza schools.
... Extant research recognizes that the Web lacks the accessibility and usability needed by blind users (Hailpern et al., 2009; American Foundation for the Blind, 2008;Leuthold et al., 2008;Lazar et al., 2007). Research shows that 80% of Web sites do not meet basic accessibility requirements (Loiacono and McCoy, 2004;Sullivan and Matson, 2000;Klein et al., 2003). Web sites that comply with existing accessibility requirements still present access barriers for the blind (Correani et al. 2004;Petrie et al., 2004). ...
Our motivation for this research is the belief that blind users cannot participate effectively in routine Web-based activities due to the lack of Web accessibility and usability for non-visual interaction. We take a cognitive, user-centered, task-oriented approach to develop an understanding of accessibility and usability problems that blind users face in Web interactions. This understanding is critically needed to determine accessibility and usability requirements for non-visual Web interaction. We employ verbal protocol analysis for an in-depth examination of difficulties participants face in completing an online assessment through a course management system. We analyze the problems that hinder accessibility and usability and explain the nature of these problems in terms of design principles. Our study contributes an effective method for qualitative evaluation of Web accessibility and usability. Our findings will guide future research to develop more accessible and usable Web applications for blind users.
... Access may be limited, however, by a general lack of awareness of technologies or access options, as well as economic, technological, and regulatory restrictions. For individuals with disabilities, equal access to accessible content, services information, and telecommunications technologies remains a major concern despite the existence of widely promulgated standards for web access (Baker and Moon, 2008;Baker et al., 2009;Klein et al., 2003;Myhill et al., 2008). ...
Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity to reframe and re-conceptualize manifestation of communities especially those in which distributed networks and communities substitute for geographic proximity, offering new opportunities for engagement, especially those who might be functionally limited in terms of mobility.
For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium’s potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. This essay explores representation/presence of disability and aging using as frames, Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Target identity/member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn were cataloged to explore the presence and representation of disability and aging identities in a socially networked setting.
The groups for this study were identified using the search feature designed into the platform architecture, which allow a user to search on specifically designated entities or keywords. Findings suggest that from a policy perspective, institutions need to be cognizant of population characteristics as well as platform opportunities implementing advocacy and relevant support services for people with disabilities and older adults to full ensure engagement and participation.
... Several studies examining the accessibility of school Web sites have argued for using a combination of automated testing, expert testing, and user testing. 26,45 ...
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal e-government Web sites to be accessible to persons with disabilities. While some studies have assessed the accessibility of federal e-government sites, most of these studies did not sufficiently examine the breadth and depth of issues related to Web site accessibility. This article details a multi-method, user-centered study of the accessibility of federal e-government sites that addresses the complexities of accessibility and the reasons for continued inaccessibility on federal e-government sites. By employing policy analysis, user testing, expert testing, automated testing, and a survey of federal Web developers, this study provides a multi-dimensional, user-centered portrait of the levels of accessibility of federal e-government Web sites, reasons for the current levels of accessibility, and perceptions about accessibility. This article discusses the legal requirements of accessibility, the previous research, and the data and findings of this study, and ultimately offers recommendations for increasing federal e-government Web site compliance with Section 508.
... However, Sullivan and Matson (2000) found that if content accessibility is defined in a continuous, rather than dichotomous manner, 29 of 50 of the Web's most popular sites can still be classified as inaccessible. Klein et al. (2003) examined 157 websites of public high schools in Iowa with different methods, including Bobby, an automated engine for checking WCAG compliance. They found that 94.3% of these pages did not pass the Bobby priority 1 check (e.g. ...
... Access may be limited, however, by a general lack of awareness of technologies or access options, as well as economic, technological, and regulatory restrictions. For individuals with disabilities, equal access to accessible content, services information, and telecommunications technologies remains a major concern despite the existence of widely promulgated standards for web access (Baker & Moon, 2008; Baker, Hanson, & Myhill, 2009; Klein, Myhill, Hansen, Asby, Michaelson & Blanck, 2003; Myhill, Cogburn, Samant, Addom & Blanck,2008). In the U.S., a variety of barriers exist to the full technological participation of people with disabilities, and it has been only relatively recently (2007) for instance, that websites were explicitly recognized as issues of concern. ...
Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity to reframe and re-conceptualize manifestation of communities especially those in which distributed networks and communities substitute for geographic proximity, offering new opportunities for engagement, especially those who might be functionally limited in terms of mobility. For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate, in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium’s potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. This paper explores representation/presence of disability and aging using as frames, Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Target identity/member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn were catalogued to explore the presence and representation of disability and aging identities in a socially networked setting. The groups for this study were identified using the search feature designed into the platform architecture, which allow a user to search on specifically designated entities or keywords. Findings suggest that from a policy perspective, institutions need to be cognizant of population characteristics as well as platform opportunities implementing advocacy and relevant support services for people with disabilities and older adults to full ensure engagement and participation.
... The importance of IT and computers in the workplace has implications for the future workforce of people with disabilities (Klein et al., 2003; Ritchie & Blanck, 2003). IT accommodations help compensate for the physical limitations inherent in some disabilities—for example, those without finger dexterity use voice-recognition software to run a computer, and those with severe speech impediments use software to ''speak'' through the computer (Blanck, 2002; Blanck et al., 2003). ...
This article reviews relevant literature as to the labor pool of qualified individuals with disabilities and employment in information technology (IT) sector jobs. First, the article reviews the empirical literature on barriers to employment in IT for persons with disabilities. The examination then is extended to studies of barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities in other employment sectors. Findings illustrate the limited experiences that IT and non-IT companies have in employing and accommodating employees with disabilities. Implications are discussed for enhancing the employment of qualified workers with disabilities in IT through research, education, training, and mentoring programs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... However, Sullivan and Matson (2000) found that if content accessibility is defined in a continuous, rather than dichotomous manner, 29 of 50 of the Web's most popular sites can still be classified as inaccessible. Klein et al. (2003) examined 157 websites of public high schools in Iowa with different methods, including Bobby, an automated engine for checking WCAG compliance. They found that 94.3% of these pages did not pass the Bobby priority 1 check (e.g. ...
Websites do not become usable just because their content is accessible. For people who are blind, the application of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) often might not even make a significant difference in terms of efficiency, errors or satisfaction in website usage. This paper documents the development of nine guidelines to construct an enhanced text user interface (ETI) as an alternative to the graphical user interface (GUI). An experimental design with 39 blind participants executing a search and a navigation task on a website showed that with the ETI, blind users executed the search task significantly faster, committing fewer mistakes, rating it significantly better on subjective scales as well as when compared to the GUIs from other websites they had visited. However, performance did not improve with the ETI on the navigation task, the main reason presumed to be labeling problems. We conclude that the ETI is an improvement over the GUI, but that it cannot help in overcoming one major weakness of most websites: If users do not understand navigation labels, even the best user interface cannot help them navigate.
... A previous study [2] concludes that it is these complex Web design technologies that often present obstacles for persons with disabilities. Many studies discuss the lack of accessibility of the Web [2][3][4][5]. There have been numerous efforts to make the Web more accessible for persons with disabilities. ...
To evaluate the impact of lawsuits on the accessibility of company websites.
Convenience samples of websites for America Online (AOL), Southwest Airlines, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Priceline.com, and Claire's were evaluated for years surrounding their respective lawsuits. The results of each website were compared to a random control group of websites and to a reference website (of a similarly sized company that has not been sued and is in the same industry). Where possible, two archived instances of each website were collected per year. Accessibility was measured using the Web Accessibility Barrier (WAB) metric to evaluate the homepage and pages at level 1. Analysis of variance was computed on the common periods between each pairing of sued and reference websites.
The case studies demonstrate mixed evidence that lawsuits work. In the cases of MARTA, Southwest and Priceline, there is supporting evidence that lawsuits have been successful. In the cases of AOL and Claire's, the evidence is weaker.
This case study examination shows mixed evidence that lawsuits work to force companies to modify their websites to be more accessible to people with disabilities: three cases show evidence for the success and two show weaker supporting evidence.
One of the typical design objectives of municipal Wi-Fi systems is the free or low-cost provision of connectivity for citizens, including people with disabilities and others impacted by the digital divide. This paper examines a range of municipal Wi-Fi implementation models for potential impact on e-accessibility. A comparative analysis was undertaken of sample U.S. and European municipal Wi-Fi systems to assess the business model and stakeholders involved in municipal wireless initiatives and to examine the degree of accessibility to or sensitivity of, municipal wireless systems for people with disabilities. As many people with disabilities are currently affected by social disparities in education and income, further marginalization of their communication and information access creates additional access barriers to critical information and full participation in community life.
This study aims at revealing the institutional identities of Greek primary schools through analysis of their websites. The sample consisted of 150 randomly selected websites. The grid of content analysis used focused on (a) information about school life, (b) links with society and (c) presentation style. Results show that schools tend to present a celebratory image of themselves, focusing more on special moments of school life while downplaying their everyday work. This is a clear strategy of schools to buffer their technical core from public control. A second strategy identified is the schools’ effort to present themselves as “ordinary.”
To evaluate the accessibility level of a website, we need to obtain the accessibility evaluation results of the pages in this website. Due to the massive number of pages in a website and possible involvement of human inspection for conformance checking, directly evaluating all the pages is prohibitively expensive. In practice, we usually select a representative sample for accessibility evaluation of the whole site. This makes the evaluation results heavily dependent on the pages selected. Undersampling may lead to a large bias in evaluation. But oversampling will incur high evaluation expense. To address this issue, this paper proposes a semi-supervised machine learning method, called active-prediction, to obtain the accessibility evaluation results for all pages in a site. Active-prediction casts the website accessibility evaluation into a prediction problem by building learning models for each checkpoint in evaluation and consequently avoids the expensive cost in human inspection. To achieve a higher prediction accuracy with only a small number of training data, active-prediction exploits active learning techniques to select the most informative pages to train the models. Experimental results show that the active-prediction could achieve a high accuracy on predicting the accessibility results and better reflect the accessibility level of the websites than the existing methods.
Socially marginalised groups experience hostility in daily life, and hostility online adds to psychological pressure. For example, hate speech, typically defined as attacks on an individual or socially marginalised group, may impact access to web content for socially marginalised groups. In addition, rendered invisibility, for example being unable to choose your gender in a web form, may act as a psychological and practical barrier to accessing web content for groups, such as genderqueer, intersex and transgender persons. Research has yet to investigate the intersectionality of web accessibility. Preliminary results from semi-structured interviews with a select group of persons that experience multiple forms of discrimination suggest that marginalized individuals expect to experience oppressive content and consider oppressive content as a part of interacting with the web. In this paper, we examine a variety of oppressive mechanisms, including ableism, racism, and transphobia, and how in combination they relate to accessing and using web content. We argue that by ensuring the accessibility of web content substantively, future researchers and practitioners can promote a more universally accessible web. By taking into consideration experiences of hostility, web developers can better support access to information and communication on the web for everyone.
Accessibility can be identified as the offering of equal rights, equal opportunities and full participation for all citizens in society. As a social issue, accessibility is situated within an important legal and normative framework that covers all dimensions of human activities, including employment, working conditions, access to the built environment, transport, use of resources, online education and training. However, whilst directives, regulations and technical standards specify the desirable characteristics of environments, such as built environment, transport, public spaces and new technologies, they do so in a disjointed way. Thus, accessibility can bring a universal approach to the inclusion of all in society; however, in reality, it is implemented in a piecemeal fashion. Because it extends across different areas and is included in the diverse and evolutionary dynamics of people, accessibility can be tackled within the approach developed by francophone ergonomics. Such a systemic approach focuses on the intrinsic and aims to contribute to a design environment that is accessible to everyone. We begin with a definition of accessibility and identify the reasons why this issue is of interest to ergonomics. We then present the legislative policy changes that have occurred in the fields of disability and accessibility in recent decades. Finally, we discuss the problem of accessibility in terms of designing appropriate situations for everyone through the bringing together of accessibility-for-use and accessibility-in-use criteria. Our proposal is grounded on the historical contributions from the fields of ergonomics and psychology on which it draws.
Most people working within the higher education sector understand the importance of making e-learning accessible to students with disabilities, yet it is not always clear exactly how this should be accomplished. E-Learning and Disability in Higher Education evaluates current accessibility practice and critiques the extent to which 'best' practices can be confidently identified and disseminated. This second edition has been fully updated and includes a focus on research that seeks to give 'voice' to disabled students in a way that provides an indispensible insight into their relationship with technologies and the institutions in which they study. Examining the social, educational, and political background behind making online learning accessible in higher and further education, E-Learning and Disability in Higher Education considers the roles and perspectives of the key stake-holders involved in e-learning: lecturers, professors, instructional designers, learning technologists, student support services, staff developers, and senior managers and administrators.
The 12 diversity dimensions of the ASCA Ethical Standards (ASCA, 2010) provided a framework for examining whether a statewide sample of high school counseling websites (N = 312) had content for diverse students and their families. Many websites offered little content related to those dimensions, and content was especially low for some groups including LGBT students and immigrant students. Findings indicate a need for school counseling websites to have nondiscrimination statements, text/documents, links, and financial aid information for diverse populations.
One of the typical design objectives of municipal Wi-Fi systems is the free or low-cost provision of connectivity for citizens, including people with disabilities and others impacted by the digital divide. This paper examines a range of municipal Wi-Fi implementation models for potential impact on e-accessibility. A comparative analysis was undertaken of sample U.S. and European municipal Wi-Fi systems to assess the business model and stakeholders involved in municipal wireless initiatives and to examine the degree of accessibility to or sensitivity of, municipal wireless systems for people with disabilities. As many people with disabilities are currently affected by social disparities in education and income, further marginalization of their communication and information access creates additional access barriers to critical information and full participation in community life.
Wireless technologies, especially those deployed by municipalities, have been offered as one way to enhance access to society at large, including people with disabilities and others on the wrong side of the digital divide. One of the promises of municipal WiFi, is free or low-cost service promised in the public interest of citizens. This paper presents research on the current state of municipal wireless network design and policies with regard to people with disabilities in the United States. A comparative analysis was undertaken of a sample of 48 municipalities to ascertain the degree of accessibility to, or sensitivity of, municipal wireless systems, and three case studies were examined for the unforeseen effects of deploying municipal WiFi in different locations. Secondly, the effectiveness of goals toward eradicating the "disability divide" are analyzed to see if policies toward people with disabilities fair well as systems are deployed, and we discuss legal implications of municipal WiFi models. Because many people with disabilities are already affected by disparities in education and income, further marginalization of their communication and information access creates a greater barrier to their access to critical information needs, and participation in a community.
The author examines user-centered evaluations of e-government Web sites for compliance with a policy related to persons with disabilities: the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Although Section 508 requires that federal e-government sites offer equal access to all users, research indicates that inaccessibility is still prevalent. User-centered evaluation approaches offer a vital way to discover areas of inaccessibility on Web sites related to the requirements of Section 508. Following an overview of accessibility, Section 508, and e-government sites, the goals of evaluation and various approaches to evaluating e-government sites are analyzed. The author then focuses on methods and issues in user-centered evaluations of e-government that measure accessibility, and considerations for universal design and future studies. Sample instruments and example data from a 2006 study of e-government accessibility are included to illustrate methods and issues. Evaluating e-government Web sites can ultimately prove quite informative in ascertaining compliance with laws intended to promote accessibility.
This study aims to investigate how Singapore primary schools use their web sites, what kind of information is contained in the web sites, and how the information is presented. Based on an analysis of 176 primary school web sites, which represent all but one of the country’s primary schools, findings indicate that most of Singapore’s primary school web sites contain basic information about the schools only. Although school web sites use images and animations to augment their interface design, few school web sites function as a two‐way communication tool with stakeholders by taking full advantage of the interactive features provided by the Internet. Fewer than half of the school web sites publish the date of their last update, making visitors wonder about the accuracy of the posted information. Recommendations are made for schools to improve the design of their web sites.Au delà des brochures électroniques : une analyse des sites Web des écoles primaires de SingapourLa présente étude s’efforce d’examiner la façon dont les écoles primaires de Singapour utilisent leurs sites Web, quel est le type d’information que ces sites contiennent et comment elle est présentée. En se fondant sur l’étude de 176 sites Web d’écoles primaires c’est à dire toutes les écoles primaires du pays sauf une, on a découvert que la plupart des sites web des écoles primaires ne contiennent qu’une information de base sur l’école elle‐même. Bien que les sites scolaires utilisent les images et les animations pour améliorer la conception de leur interface, peu nombreux sont les sites d’écoles qui fonctionnent comme un outil de communication à double flux avec les acteurs principaux en tirant le meilleur parti des éléments d’interactivité qu’offre Internet. Moins de la moitié des sites d’écoles publient des informations très récentes ce qui amène les visiteurs à se poser des questions sur la validité de l’information affichée. L’article fournit un certain nombre de recommandations pour que les écoles améliorent la conception de leurs sites Web.Über elektronische Broschüren: Eine Analyse von Websites Singapurer GrundschulenDiese Studie zielt darauf ab, zu erforschen, wie die Singapurer Grundschulen ihre Websites nutzen, welche Art von Informationen sie enthalten und wie Informationen präsentiert werden. Auf der Grundlage von 176 Grundschul‐Websites, die bis auf eine Landschule alle Grundschulen des Landes umfassen, hat sich ergeben, dass die meisten dieser Grundschul‐Websites nur Grundinformationen über die Schulen enthalten. Obwohl die Schul‐Websites Bilder und Animationen verwenden, um das Design ihrer Schnittstelle anzureichern, funktionieren nur wenige Websites als zwei Wege Kommunikationstool mit Möglichkeiten, den vollen Nutzen aus den interaktiven Angeboten des Internets zu ziehen. Auf weniger als der Hälfte der Schulwebsites findet sich eine Notiz über die letzte Aktualisierung, wodurch Besucher die Gültigkeit der abgelegten Informationen nicht einschätzen können. Empfehlungen an die Schulen zur Verbesserung des Designs ihrer Websites werden gegeben.Más alla de los folletos electrónicos : un análisis de los sitios Web de las escuelas primarias de SingapurEl presente estudio se esfuerza en examinar como las escuelas primarias de Singapur utilizan sus sitios Web, el tipo de información que esos sitios contienen y como está presentada. En un estudio que cubre 176 sitios Web en escuelas primarias es decir todas las escuelas primarias del país menos una, se ha descubierto que la mayoría de de los sitios Web de las escuelas primarias contienen solamente una información de tipo básico sobre la escuela propia. Aunque esos sitios escolares utilizan imagenes y animaciones para mejorar el diseño de su interface, son pocos los sitios de escuelas que funcionan como herramientas de comunicación de doble dirección con los protagonistas, aprovechando el potencial de Internet para la interactividad. Menos de la mitad de los sitios escolares presentan informaciones al día lo que conduce los visitantes a cuestionar la validez de la información presentada. Este artículo facilita algunas recomendaciones para mejorar el diseño de los sitios Web de las escuelas.
The Internet provides individuals with disabilities numerous tools to live independently. In the convenience of the home, a person can access an abundance of information, an electronic community, updates on the latest disability advocacy news, education through distance-learning classes, and on-line shopping for books, clothes, assistive technology, and a host of other consumer goods. Centers for Independent Living (CILs) are consumer-run, non-profit grassroots disability service organizations at the forefront of the disability rights movement. Providing services to individuals across the range of disabilities, CILs have begun to use the Internet as a complement to their traditional service delivery methods. This article examines the emerging trend of independent living services on the web. The investigation examines 200 CIL Internet sites across the United States during the period of April to August 2001. Information is collected and analyzed about how CILs are using the Internet to provide their services and programs. In addition, the article examines the technological accessibility of their web sites. Implications of the findings for CILs, consumers with disabilities, and disability policy are examined. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine web accessibility initiative (WAI) guidelines for web accessibility so as to incorporate web accessibility in information systems (IS) curriculum. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used the WebXact software accessibility evaluation tool to test the top pages of web sites of the 23 California State University (CSU) campuses in order to identify the level of compliance to federal standards. The authors also designed and conducted a questionnaire to survey the students who were enrolled in the first web development course at CSU, Dominguez Hills to access their knowledge and skills in various web accessibility topics. Findings – The research findings show that the majority of the CSU campuses' top web pages failed to meet WAI guidelines at some point. Moreover, two-thirds of the students who responded to the survey have no knowledge of web accessibility topics included in the questionnaires. The results indicate that IS programs failed to incorporate accessibility in their curricula and produce web developers with the skills and knowledge in web accessibility. Research limitations/implications – The limitation of this research is that the sample size is small. The authors intend to increase the number of universities' web site in the test and survey all students in the IS program in a future study. Practical implications – This research is background work that will help the authors to incorporate accessibility topics in their web development courses that include web accessibility basic concepts, universal design, Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act, web content accessibility guidelines, WAI guidelines for web accessibility, and web accessibility testing tools. Originality/value – This research improves the current state of web accessibility in curriculum higher education.
This study focuses on two parts. First part of the study is to identify the major problems of web site content in Malaysia using bobby web accessibility tool. The second objective is to study perception of marketers on web site development in Malaysia based on four factors (planning and preparation; development and design; management and maintenance and security, privacy and trust). The outcome of first part of this study found that number of web sites has achieved the bobby test is very low, which is 17.5%. The major errors of the web sites mainly are related to text, colour, animation, image, pixel and table. For the second part of study, even a test of web site development model is not a good-fit model, however, an overall of the study shows that all factors of web site development are important.
Since publication of the Atkins Commission report in 2003, the national scientific community has placed significant emphasis on developing cyberinfrastructure-enabled knowledge communities, which are designed to facilitate enhanced efficiency and collaboration in geographically distributed networks of researchers. This article suggests that the new cyberinfrastructure movement may not fully benefit those participants with disabilities, unless closer attention is paid to legal mandates and universal design principles. Many technology-enhanced learning communities provide geographically distributed collaboration opportunities that expand the inclusion of diverse peoples and help close the digital divide. However, to date, most collaboratory efforts have not emphasized the need for access among people with disabilities nor meeting minimum standards for technological accessibility. To address these concerns, this article reports on two pilot collaboratory studies that explore the role advanced information, communication, and collaboration technologies play in enhancing geographically distributed collaboration among specific research and applied networks within the national disability community. Universal design principles inform the design of the collaboratory and its use and our efforts to ensure access for all. Data for this article come from Web-based surveys, interviews, observations, computer logs, and detailed, mixed-methods accessibility testing. Emerging results suggest that with deliberate and systematic efforts, cyberinfrastructure can be more accessible and generate benefits among persons with disabilities. The authors provide lessons learned and recommendations for future research, policy, law, and practice.
An essential part of web design today is designing for individuals with disabilities. Many government and educational institutions now require that all web pages follow accessibility guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric) and specified in Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act (http://www.section508.gov). As more and more facets of our lives become tied to Internet technologies, it is important that those involved with the placement of information on the Internet consider the obstacles faced online by individuals with disabilities and design with those obstacles in mind. This article outlines a process-based approach to accessibility policy implementation. This process consists of several steps ranging from identification of applicable standards to final implementation. Identification and adoption of accessibility standards involves determining which standards apply to a given organization and adopting those standards, organization-wide. Validation is the evaluation of the site in terms of the standards adopted. Establishing an approach involves selecting the tools and techniques necessary given the needs and experience in the organization. Implementation is the final step integrating standards, tools and training.
Some underserved populations cannot fully benefit from many courses offered online due to inaccessible technology, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. The author of this article shares tips for making distance learning courses accessible to, usable by, and inclusive of students with disabilities.
From the Publisher:
Accessibility is about making a website accessible to those with aural, visual or physical disabilities - or rather, constructing websites that don't exclude these people from accessing the content or services being provided.The purpose of this book is to enable web professionals to create and retrofit accessible websites quickly and easily. It includes discussion of the technologies and techniques that are used to access websites, and the legal stipulations and precedents that exist in the US and around the world. The main body of the book is devoted to the business of making websites and their content accessible: testing techniques, web development tools, and advanced techniques. The book concludes with a quick reference checklist for creating accessible websites. This is a practical book with lots of step-by-step examples, supported with a Section 508 checklist enabling developers to refer to the book as they work as well as a complete list of accessibility testing and approval sites. What's great about this book? It will teach you how to make your content accessible to people with disabilities Explains in detail how to test sites for accessibility issues It teaches you how to use a wide range of accessibility tools effectively You'll learn how to make your web site fully section 508 compliant Includes a detailed coverage of accessibility law, and is full of practical examples Includes tutorial on accessible authoring with Flash MX
Colour-blind computer users see things differently from most people, but this is seldom considered in the design of software or Web pages. This article offers a simple technique for simulating the differences, to help designers and developers avoid disadvantaging their users.
An abstract is not available.
From the Publisher:If fear of lawsuits, government mandates, and human-rights complaints is driving you to make your Website more accessible, you're doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Ask yourself if it makes good business sense to ignore a substantial portion of your potential audience. Why turn away visitors who may be blind, deaf, or otherwise disabled? Building Accessible Websites teaches how and why to use Web accessibility techniques, with an emphasis on phased accessibility that scales to the needs of small, medium, and large budgets. Whether you're an individual developer running a hobby site or the head of a large corporate Web team, Building Accessible Websites shows you affordable, technically manageable ways to make a Website accessible to people with disabilities. Written by Joe Clark -- whom the Atlantic Monthly called "the king of closed captions" -- this book will cause you to rethink everything you thought you knew about accessibility. It debunks myths, clarifies regulations, and presents sound strategies for tackling this important subject. Far from advocating dull text-only Web pages, Building Accessible Websites considers good visual design and strong content just as necessary and important as accessibility itself.
This manual is a guide to providing accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities enrolled in vocational and adult general education programs in Florida. The first chapter briefly describes the programs available to students with disabilities, explains the difference between "accommodations" and "modifications," and discusses issues of legal compliance, eligibility, and the decision-making process. The second chapter describes instructional strategies for various groups including needs assessment, classroom organization, teaching techniques, and assessment practices (including accommodations, alternate assessment procedures, and exemptions). Chapter 3, on accommodations, examines general factors, assistive technology options, instruction and assessment (by subject area), accommodations in the learning and work environment, and accommodations in job requirements. The following chapter addresses the use of modifications including the impact of modifications and use of modified occupational completion points. The fifth chapter offers guidance for getting started in providing accommodations and modifications. Appendices include excerpts from State Board of Education Rules and a list of resources. (Contains 38 references.) (DB)
This article reviews relevant literature as to the labor pool of qualified individuals with disabilities and employment in information technology (IT) sector jobs. First, the article reviews the empirical literature on barriers to employment in IT for persons with disabilities. The examination then is extended to studies of barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities in other employment sectors. Findings illustrate the limited experiences that IT and non-IT companies have in employing and accommodating employees with disabilities. Implications are discussed for enhancing the employment of qualified workers with disabilities in IT through research, education, training, and mentoring programs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Internet provides individuals with disabilities numerous tools to live independently. In the convenience of the home, a person can access an abundance of information, an electronic community, updates on the latest disability advocacy news, education through distance-learning classes, and on-line shopping for books, clothes, assistive technology, and a host of other consumer goods. Centers for Independent Living (CILs) are consumer-run, non-profit grassroots disability service organizations at the forefront of the disability rights movement. Providing services to individuals across the range of disabilities, CILs have begun to use the Internet as a complement to their traditional service delivery methods. This article examines the emerging trend of independent living services on the web. The investigation examines 200 CIL Internet sites across the United States during the period of April to August 2001. Information is collected and analyzed about how CILs are using the Internet to provide their services and programs. In addition, the article examines the technological accessibility of their web sites. Implications of the findings for CILs, consumers with disabilities, and disability policy are examined. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Les Directrius per a l'accessibilitat al contingut de pàgines web tenen l'objectiu de promoure l'accessibilitat del contingut de la web per a persones amb discapacitats, però també d'ajudar a trobar la informació dins el web i facilitar-ne l'ú a tot tipus d'usuaris. Són directrius amb principis i idees de disseny que no expliquen tècniques concretes de codi ni estan actualitzades a la darrera versió; de programari o maquinari existent. Aquestes directrius han estat publicades per la Iniciativa sobre Accessibilitat al web (WAI) del Word Wide Web Consortium i es complementen amb altres directrius i documents del mateix grup. Un grup de professors de la Facultat de Biblioteconomia a la Universitat de Barcelona han realitzat la traducció al català.
"The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was heralded by its congressional sponsors as an ""emancipation proclamation"" for people with disabilities and as the most important civil rights legislation passed in a generation. Employment, Disability, and the Americans with Disabilities Act offers a meticulously documented assessment of what has occurred since the ADA's enactment. In reasoned, empirically based articles, contributors from law, health policy, government, and business reveal the unsoundness of charges from the right that the ADA will bankrupt industry and assumptions on the left that the ADA will prove ineffective in helping those with disabilities enter and remain in the workforce. "
Despite the prominence of the disability civil rights model--with its values of inclusion and empowerment--the majority of social and policy research conducted to date has not sufficiently included the perspective of persons with disabilities in the research process and as uniquely qualified researchers themselves. This article describes a new project, "Technology for Independence: A Community-Based Resource Center" (CBRC). Over a five-year period, the CBRC will attempt to enhance community and consumer-directed disability organizations to design, implement, and disseminate research that promotes access to and use of assistive technology (AT). The CBRC will use strategies such as leadership training, participatory action research, technical assistance, web-assisted training, and annual symposia. A primary goal of the CBRC is to increase the capacity of community organizations to conduct research on AT that is scientifically rigorous and relevant to disability services, policy, and law.
ADHD Classroom Modification Checklists
- R Weinstein
Weinstein, R. (n.d.). ADHD Classroom Modification Checklists. Retrieved August 7, 2002, from The
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General Education Accommodations
- Schwab Learning
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The economics of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Part II: Patents, innovations and assistive technology
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Communications Technology for Everyone: Implications for the Classroom and Beyond
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Towards reaching a national employment policy for persons with disabilities
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(pp. 1-10). Alexandria, VA: Switzer Seminar Monograph Series, National Rehabilitation Association.
Accommodating employees with disabilities: A primer. Part 2: The costs and benefits of accommodating employees with disabilities
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U.S. counts one in 12 children as disabled; Census reflects increase of handicapped youth
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Letter to James Rosser, President of California State University at Los Angeles
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