Favorite Resources

Often, I come across good information or resources that I want to explore later. Instead of getting lost in my bookmarks, I wanted to publicly share with others who were also interested in these topics. They are in no particular order of importance.

If you only want to look at a couple of resources, look for the ones with an asterisk (*) at the beginning.

Contents hide

Reports / Publications

Name of Report Organization(s) Year and Month Notable Quotes
A Hidden Market: The Purchasing Power of Working-Age Adults With Disabilities American Institutes for Research (AIR) April 2018 “Discretionary income for working-age people with disabilities is around $21 billion. This is greater than that of African-American and Hispanic market segments combined. By focusing on hiring and retaining people with disabilities and creating inclusive work environments, employers open up possibilities to connect with an often-overlooked market segment and ultimately increase revenue.
After High School: A First Look At The Postschool Experiences Of Youth With Disabilities Office of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
April 2005 “Thus, 40% of postsecondary students with disabilities identify themselves as having a disability and have informed their postsecondary schools of that disability” (page 4-14).
Barriers to Students with Disabilities in Psychological Training APA Feb 2009
Building Momentum Towards Inclusive Teaching and Learning: A good-practice guide for undergraduate physics Institute of Physics May 2017
Digital experience insights survey 2018: findings from students in UK further and higher education JISC UK September 2018 The report contains the opinions of 37,000 students (across the UK) on their digital experiences in further and higher education.
Digital experience insights survey 2019: findings from students in UK further and higher education JISC UK September 2019 The digital experience insights student survey 2019 shares information from students at 50 UK institutions. Participants describe their attitude towards technologies and their digital learning experiences.
Digital experience insights survey 2020: findings from students in UK further and higher education JISC UK September 2020 This year, 20,575 students from 28 UK universities took part in our student digital experience insights survey. The survey was conducted between October 2019 and May 2020.
Disability Statistics Annual Report NIDILRR 2017
ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology
Slides, Transcripts, Recording of Webinar
EDUCAUSE October 2018 Key Finding #10 – Accessibility“A plurality of students who self-identify as having a physical and/or learning disability requiring accessible or adaptive technologies for their coursework rated their institution’s awareness of their needs as poor. According to students, larger and DR public institutions tend to have poorer awareness of disabled students’ needs than do smaller and AA institutions. In addition to institutional limitations, students’ fears of being stigmatized or penalized for disclosing their disabilities and engaging disability services to receive the aid they need may be contributing to low rates of awareness.”
EU Web Accessibility Directive Policy Connect September 2018
International Comparison on Accessible Technology in Higher Education ATHEN E-Journal 2009
Making Digital Learning Work: Success Strategies from Six Leading Universities and Community Colleges Arizona State University

Boston Consulting Group

April 2018 Online courses are associated with higher retention and graduation rates, increased access and cost savings of as much as 50 percent, according to a new study from Arizona State University. The research is built on case studies from a half-dozen institutions “with a strong track record of using digital learning to improve student outcomes,” according to information released by ASU. In addition to ASU, the other schools examined for the study include Georgia State University, Houston Community College, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Rio Salado Community College and University of Central Florida.
New Media Consortium’s (NMC) Horizon Report EDUCAUSE August 2018
New Media Consortium’s (NMC) Horizon Report EDUCAUSE April 2019
Reading Content on Mobile Devices Report Nielsen Normal Group December 2016
The Effect of Disability Disclosure On The Graduation On Graduation Rates of College Students with Disabilities Dissertation of Robyn L. Hudson 2013
Who Teaches Accessibility? A Survey of U.S. Computing Faculty Shinohara, Kawas, Ko, Ladner February 2018
The Truth About Teaching to Learning Styles, and What to Do Instead? eLearning Guild July 2018
Higher Education’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies and Trends for 2018 EDUCAUSE January 2018
The 2018 Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology

Survey in PDF

Webinar Recording

Inside Higher Ed November 2018 Specifically, 66 percent of faculty members say their courses offer screen reader compatibility, 64 percent say they provide alternative text to visual elements and 61% say the same about both making links descriptive and captioning video and transcribing audio.
Shifting Student Behavior: Interventions & Other Strategies to Help Colleges & Their Students Inside Higher Ed August 2018
The Next Generation of Students Inside Higher Ed September 2018
Learning in Three Dimensions: Report on the EDUCAUSE/HP Campus of the Future Project EDUCAUSE July 2018
Institutions’ Use of Data and Analytics for Student Success EDUCAUSE April 2018
Video Length in Online Courses: What the Research Says Quality Matters mix links to 3 different studies
2018 ADA Web Accessibility Recap UsableNet December 2018 ADA web accessibility-related lawsuits exploded with a 181% increase in 2018 (2285 cases) over 2017 (814 cases).
Student Perceptions of Faculty Implementation of Universal Design for Learning Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability 2011 Previous research suggested that nearly 60% of students with disabilities choose not to disclose their disabilities (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005). Our data demonstrated that nearly 80% of students who indicated they had a disability did not choose to report their disabilities to the university.
Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage Accenture October 2018 The discretionary income for workingage persons with disabilities is $21 billion—greater than that of the African-American and Hispanic segments combined.
National Research Results: Student Uses and Perceptions of Closed Captions and Transcripts Oregon State University Ecampus Research Unit and 3PlayMedia October 2016 The discretionary income for workingage persons with disabilities is $21 billion—greater than that of the African-American and Hispanic segments combined.
The WebAIM Million: What we learned analyzing 1,000,000 web site home pages WebAIM February 2019 WebAIM has analyzed the home pages for the top 1 million web sites and collected an immense volume of accessibility data. The results provide great insight into the current state of accessibility. Unfortunately, significant and pervasive issues are present across much of the web. While there is much work to be done to improve accessibility, these research findings can help us identify patterns so accessibility efforts can be better focused.
The WebAIM Million Update: A 6-month accessibility re-analysis of the top 1,000,000 home pages WebAIM August 2019 In August 2019, WebAIM conducted a re-analysis of the accessibility of the home pages for the top 1,000,000 web sites. The initial WebAIM Million analysis had been conducted in February – 6 months prior. This report documents changes in accessibility over that 6 month time period. The same sampling techniques and methods were used during this update as were used for the original WebAIM Million. The same caveats discussed in the original research remain.
2019 Key Issues in Teaching and Learning EDUCAUSE 2019 Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was #5 on the list.
Top 10 IT Issues EDUCAUSE 2019 #15: IT Accessibility: Adopting policies, procedures, remediations, and technologies to ensure current and future IT can be used effectively by everyone, and collaborating across institutions to influence the vendor community to provide compliant solutions
State of Digital Accessibility 2019 Level Access and G3ict 2019 Level Access and G3ict surveyed 550 professionals working in accessibility programs in organizations large and small and compiled the results into the first State of Digital Accessibility Report.
Nucleus Research Note: The Internet is Unavailable Nucleus July 2019 Nucleus conducted in-depth interviews with 73 adults who are blind to understand the realities of Internet accessibility for a subset of the larger disabled population.

With their assistance, we analyzed hundreds of Websites and found that more than 70 percent of Internet sites – from top retailers to presidential campaign sites to the sites of sitting elected officials –all have critical accessibility blockers, rendering the prime directive of that site inaccessible.

Diamond’s First Annual State Of Accessibility Report

Diamond’s Infographic

Diamond May 2019 The current state of accessibility is unacceptable. There are an average of 59.6 major accessibility errors per webpage.
2019 Study of Faculty and Information Technology EDUCAUSE December 2019 Faculty give high ratings to support services for accessibility technology, when they use them.
Making a Difference: Prioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning June 2017 Teaching Accessibility in a Technology Design Course
A11Y Wars: The Accessibility Interpretation Problem Deque May 2018
2021 Top IT IssuesTop IT Issues, 2021: Emerging from the Pandemic EDUCAUSE November 2020 Affordability and Digital Equity: Eliminating technology disparities via commitments to accessibility and mobile-first systems, increased support, and an SIS that can support more-flexible credentials, schedules, and curricula
Dear Colleague Letter

Frequently Asked Questions

United States Department of Education June 2010 ED and DOJ issued a joint Dear Colleague Letter to college and university presidents outlining the legal requirements concerning the use of electronic book readers and other emerging technology in institutions of higher education.
National Research Study: How Colleges Are Handling Captioning 3PlayMedia Unknown
The Impact of Captions and Transcripts on Student Learning 3PlayMedia October 2020
Verizon Media and Publicis Media Find Viewers Want Captions 3PlayMedia Nov 2019

Helpful Presentations

Global Scene

Inclusive Design/ Inclusive UX / Universal Design for Learning (UDL) / UX Design

Marketing / Buy-In / Organizational Change / Campus Change

Faculty-Focused

Policy

Content Remediation

Staff/Faculty Engagement

Procurement

Web Accessibility Presentations

Other

Centralized Accessibility Efforts

Library Resources

Survey Results

Organizations

  • @One (Online Network of Educations) – a collaborative, system-wide network of California Community College faculty, staff, and administrators, is coordinated by the professional development team of the CCC California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI). @ONE provides training and professional development to support the effective use of digital tools and platforms to make California Community Colleges a nationally recognized leader in online teaching and learning. Funding from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office ensures that @ONE’s offerings are provided for free or a very low cost.
  • AccessATE – AccessATE supports the work of the NSF-funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) projects and centers in making the materials and activities they develop more accessible for all students and faculty, including those with disabilities. The project aims to increase awareness and understanding of accessibility requirements and provide guidance, tools, and support that offers solutions and helps achieve compliance with accessibility standards.
  • Access Technology Higher Education Network (ATHEN) – ATHEN is a professional association and network for Access Technology in Higher Education. The purpose of ATHEN is to collect and disseminate best practices in access technology in the higher education environment as well as present a collective voice for the professional practice of access technology in higher education.
  • Accessible Instructional Materials Virginia – AIM-VA provides accessible instructional materials to eligible Virginia K-12 students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Accessible instructional materials are alternate print materials, (e.g., braille, electronic files) used by students who are not able to use traditional print formats.
  • AccessibleTech.org (National ADA Network) – Our mission is to promote full and unrestricted participation in business and society by persons with disabilities through the use of electronic information technology that is universally accessible.
  • Accessible Technology Coalition – The ATC is funded by the Center for Accessible Technology located in Berkeley California at the Ed Roberts Campus. While the ATC provides an online resource that reaches across the world, the Center for Accessible Technology offers access to an office with staff who provide hands-on training; AT Consultants who do assessments; business consulting services to corporations, libraries and government entities; assistance on creating accessible websites and have a test bank of users with disabilities to test products and services.
  • ACM SIGACCESS  – Supports the international community of researchers and professionals applying computing and information technologies to empower individuals with disabilities and older adults. The SIG also promotes the professional interests of students and computing personnel with disabilities and strives to educate the public to support careers for people with disabilities. Our diverse membership is interested in the design, development, evaluation, and scientific investigations of technologies to support individuals with disabilities.
  • AppleVis – AppleVis strives to empower the community by offering multiple pathways to access and share relevant and useful information. As a community, we seek to encourage and support people in exploring the many ways in which Apple products and related applications can offer opportunities to the vision-impaired for personal enrichment, independence and empowerment.
  • Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) – The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) is a membership organization that supports and promotes a national network of university-based interdisciplinary programs. Network members consist of:
    • 67 University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), funded by the Office on Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (OIDD)
    • 52 Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Programs funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
    • 14 Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Centers (IDDRC), most of which are funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD)
  • Axess Lab – We design and build easy to use technology together with people with disabilities. We often focus on cognitive impairments like autism and adhd, which results in technology that works well for anyone – regardless of disability.
  • Benetech – Benetech continues to be a different kind of tech company—a nonprofit—with a pure focus on developing software for social good. More than two decades after our founding, we’ve grown to include multiple program areas and initiatives that provide software to improve—even transform—the lives of people all across the world. You can read more about our work through our four main work areas: Education, Human Rights, Environment and Poverty.
  • California Community Colleges Accessibility Center (CCC Accessibility Center) – The CCC Accessibility center is committed to informing and supporting California community colleges in building an accessible ICT environment for current and prospective students, faculty, staff, and members of the public.
  • California Online Network of Educators (@ONE) – is a collaborative, system-wide network of California Community College faculty, staff, and administrators. @ONE provides training and professional development to support the effective use of digital tools and platforms to make California Community Colleges a nationally recognized leader in online teaching and learning. Funding from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office ensures that @ONE’s offerings are provided for free or a very low cost.
  • Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) – Located a short distance north of Boston, CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning.
  • Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities (K-12) – Our research is intended to support improvements to policy, practice, and future research. These resources are intended to support your efforts in these critical areas.
  • Center on Technology and Disability – A wealth of free, high-quality resources and events on all aspects of assistive technology!
  • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol (A/RES/61/106) was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007. There were 82 signatories to the Convention, 44 signatories to the Optional Protocol, and 1 ratification of the Convention. This is the highest number of signatories in history to a UN Convention on its opening day. It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and is the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations. The Convention entered into force on 3 May 2008.
  • Design Can – Design CAN: be more representative of the world it serves. Design CAN: be an industry for people of all backgrounds, abilities, ages and identities. Design CAN: be stronger with the talent that has been ignored for too long. Design CAN: disrupt the status quo, celebrate new voices and tell untold stories. Design CAN: represent us all.
  • Diamond – Our services bring quality technical execution to a broad range of clients, including television studios, tech companies, robotics firms, dating apps, healthcare enterprises, travel companies and startups.
  • Disability:IN – Disability:IN is the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide. Our network of over 185 corporations expands opportunities for people with disabilities across enterprises. Our central office and 30 Affiliates serve as the collective voice to effect change for people with disabilities in business.
  • Disability Data Advocacy Working Group – We are excited to announce that the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities has established a Disability Data Advocacy Working Group to provide a global platform for information exchange, learning and dialogue, sharing of good practices, and collaboration on disability data collection, disaggregation, and analysis. The Working Group was created after an assessment of disability data at the national level in 2018.
  • Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) – The Center is dedicated to empowering people with disabilities through technology and education. It promotes awareness and accessibility—in both the classroom and the workplace—to maximize the potential of individuals with disabilities and make our communities more vibrant, diverse, and inclusive.
  • EASI: Equal Access To Software & Information – EASI is a non-profit organization, committed to the belief that students and professionals with disabilities have the same right to access information technology as everyone else.
  • EDUCAUSE – We are a nonprofit association and the largest community of technology, academic, industry, and campus leaders advancing higher education through the use of IT.
  • Jisc UK – Our vision is for the UK to be the most digitally-advanced higher education, further education and research nation in the world.
  • Karlan Communications – Karen McCall has been awarded the Microsoft MVP [Most Valued Professional] Award for Word for the past eight years. In 2014 the category of Accessibility MVP was created and 70 MVP’s were also awarded the Accessibility MVP Award. Karen was one of them.
  • Interaction Design Foundation – We democratize learning by providing top-quality, online design courses at a fraction of the cost of traditional education. We collaborate with top universities and companies—Stanford, Cambridge and SAP Labs, for example—as well as noted authors like Clayton Christensen and Don Norman. This means our educational material focuses on practical relevance and is backed up with academic rigor. We share this knowledge with over half a million designers every month!
  • IMS Global Learning Consortium – The mission of the IMS Global Learning Consortium is to advance technology that can affordably scale and improve educational participation and attainment. To ensure that the “Learning Impact” of technology-enabled innovation is achieved around the world, IMS’s influential community of educational institutions, suppliers, and government organizations develops open interoperability standards, supports adoption with technical services, and encourages adoption through programs that highlight effective practices.
  • Inclusive Design Research Centre OCAD University – The IDRC is a research and development centre at OCAD University where an international community of open source developers, designers, researchers, advocates, and volunteers work together to ensure that emerging information technology and practices are designed inclusively.
  • Inclusive Publishing – sharing knowledge to make mainstream publications accessible to all, including people with print disabilities. Find the latest definitive articles and links for the best approaches to producing, delivering and reading accessible content that can be available to everyone in the same format, at the same time and at the same price.
  • International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) – Accessibility professionals from around the world come together to define, promote and improve the accessibility profession through networking, education and certification.
  • International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind – The International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind is a comprehensive technology evaluation, demonstration, and training facility located at our national headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group – Over 1.3 billion people worldwide, about 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability. The Accessibility SIG, with a people-centric approach, is aimed at providing interested participants a platform to discuss the Internet-related accessibility issues faced by the people with disabilities and to try to find the solutions to those issues. It also aims to provide a collective voice to a community that the UN calls the world’s largest minority.
  • Maxability – Digital accessibility totally relies on Inclusive designing of all digital content, so that it can be accessed and used by all people regardless of age, gefnder and disability. As we are living in a technology driven world, digitalization have evolved and intertwined with our daily lives, we are committed to ensuring that our digital environment is accessible to everyone.
  • Microsoft Accessibility – At Microsoft, we understand the power of technology, and that’s why we continue to innovate, create, and design in a way that gives everyone the ability to achieve more.
  • National Center on Accessible Educational Materials – We provide resources and technical assistance for educators, parents, students, publishers, conversion houses, accessible media producers, and others interested in learning more about AEM and implementing AEM and the NIMAS.
  • The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE) – exists to address issues of technology and disability in education policies and practices to enhance the lives of people with disabilities and their families. NCDAE works on policy, research, training and technical assistance, and dissemination of information. NCDAE accomplishes its purpose through an affiliate network of over 500 national and international partners in education, business and industry, and government.
  • National Federation of the Blind – The National Federation of the Blind is the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind Americans. Founded in 1940 and currently headquartered in Baltimore, the NFB consists of affiliates, chapters, and divisions in all fifty states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. Through our network of blind members, we coordinate many programs, services, and resources to defend the rights of blind Americans, provide information and support to blind children and adults, and build a community that creates a future full of opportunities.
  • National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) – The NIMAS is a technical standard used by publishers to produce source files (in XML) that may be used to develop multiple specialized formats (such as Braille or audio books) for students with print disabilities.
  • Network of Assistive Technologists – Founded in 2015 as an Ontario, Canada focused network connecting Assistive Technology professionals, N.O.A.T. has grown beyond the borders of Ontario. Open to all Assistive Technology and related professionals, regardless of geographic location, N.O.A.T. is a Community of Practice providing an opportunity to share, learn and grow from and with other AT professionals. As our membership is limited to the Assistive Technology profession, N.O.A.T. is a place to connect with other professionals, build resources, and share knowledge and support. All in a safe and open environment.
  • Quality Matters (QM) –  Today Quality Matters is a nonprofit organization comprised of a dedicated staff that works together virtually—from cities all over the United States—to support everyone’s quality assurance goals. But in order to truly achieve our mission of defining and maintaining quality assurance in online learning, we rely on our larger community of QM Coordinators, workshop facilitators, peer and master reviewers, program reviewers, conference presenters, and all the other individuals and groups who are champions for QM and help everyone deliver on the promise of online learning.
  • Texas Health and Human Services Accessibility Center – Accessibility means providing equal access to information and services regardless of a user’s physical or developmental abilities or impairments. HHS staff are required by law to ensure that any electronic and information resources (EIR) they create or purchase are accessible. To help HHS staff meet the accessibility requirements for EIR, this website includes policy information, accessibility training, and other resources.
  • The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) – G3ict’s objectives and global outreach are aligned with the dispositions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on the accessibility of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Assistive Technologies. G3ict’s objectives are to: promote awareness, support advocates and policy makers, facilitate and share good practices, foster harmonization and standardization, define and promote the accessibility profession.
  • Universal Design Institute – The Ronald L. Mace Universal Design Institute (The Institute) is a non-profit organization based in North Carolina dedicated to promoting the concept and practice of accessible and universal design. The Institute’s work manifests the belief that all new environments and products, to the greatest extent possible, should and can be usable by everyone regardless of age, ability, or circumstance.
  • Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network (UDL-IRN) – The Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network supports the scaled implementation and research related to Universal Design for Learning. Through collaboration, we support and promote the identification and development of models, tools, research, and practices designed to foster effective UDL implementation in educational environments. We encourage and welcome participation in these discussions.
  • Think College – Think College is a national organization dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disability. With a commitment to equity and excellence, Think College supports evidence-based and student-centered research and practice by generating and sharing knowledge, guiding institutional change, informing public policy, and engaging with students, professionals and families.
  • Universal Design Project – Our vision is for every community across the USA to have a surplus of homes and opportunities for social participation that are universally and financially accessible.
  • U.S. Access Board – The U.S. Access Board is a federal agency that promotes equality for people with disabilities through leadership in accessible design and the development of accessibility guidelines and standards. Its guidelines and standards address access to the built environment, information and communication technology, transportation, and medical diagnostic equipment. The Board also provides technical assistance and training on these design requirements and enforces accessibility standards that apply to facilities funded by the federal government.
  • Utah Education Network (UEN) – UEN is part of the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) which connects all Utah school districts, schools, and higher education institutions to a robust network and quality educational resources. UEN is one of the nation’s premier education networks.
  • The Viscardi Center – The Viscardi Center educates, employs, and empowers youth, adults, and veterans with disabilities or similar needs, so we can all discover the love of learning, the power of work, the freedom of independent living, and the self-confidence to fulfill our dreams.
  • Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) – Our mission is to empower organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities.
  • W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – Strategies, standards, and supporting resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.

Certification and Accessibility Testing

Accessibility Principles

Headings

Alternative Text, Alt Text, Image Description

Tables

MS Office Accessibility

Word

PowerPoint

Adaptive Technology

Windows

Screen Readers

Web Accessibility / Website Accessibility

Mobile Testing

STEM Accessibility

ePub

Braille

Music Braille

  • Dancing Dots – Dancing Dots Braille Music Technology, L.P., was founded in 1992 to develop and adapt music technology for the blind. In 1997 Dancing Dots released its first product, the GOODFEEL® Braille Music Translator. Bill McCann, Dancing Dots’ president and founder, sees GOODFEEL® as the first in a series of high-tech tools to harness the power of the personal computer for creative people with disabilities. McCann himself is a blind musician and programmer who has successfully competed for federal and state contracts to advance this work. In addition to selling GOODFEEL®, the company is an authorized distributor for a wide range of assistive technology and music products. Dancing Dots has customers throughout the U.S. and over forty foreign countries.
  • BrailleMUSE – BrailleMUSE is offering the server as an Internet Braille music translation from MusicXML format to Braille music system with NABCC(ASCII) and/or BASE format, which has developed by Yokohama National Univ. with ten years’ research and development. You can use our BrailleMUSE server freely under the following conditions. Our hope is that this translation program is helpful for the visually impaired, Braille translators, and whom it may concern.

Tactile Graphics

  • 3D Printing, Tactiles and Haptics (Diagram Center) – New technologies for creating tactiles and tactile experiences offer revolutionary ways of conveying spatial information. The work described below represents the DIAGRAM Center’s ongoing exploration of these technologies, including 3D printing and haptics.
  • Touch Graphics – Touch Graphics creates products and exhibits that rely on multi-sensory display techniques and audio-haptic interactivity. Our main interest is to present spatial concepts and figures through non-visual or extra-visual means. Materials produced are used in schools, libraries, museums and other exhibit spaces and transit terminals.
  • Talking Tactile Tablet 2 – The Talking Tactile Tablet, nicknamed “TTT” or “T3″, is an inexpensive, rugged and simple computer peripheral device designed for use as a “viewer” for audio/tactile materials. A hinged, weighted frame holds one of a large collection of tactile graphic sheet motionless in place against a touch-sensitive surface.

Tools, Software, Technology

  • AbleData – We are the premier database for unbiased, comprehensive information on products, solutions and resources to improve productivity and ease life’s tasks.
  • Stark – Baked right into the software you love to use, Stark empowers you to design with accessibility in mind from conception of brand to fruition of product.

MS Word Plug-Ins

  • Document Accessibility Toolbar (Vision Australia) – An innovation that revolutionises the ease and speed of creating accessible documents in Microsoft Word, the Document Accessibility Toolbar (DAT) supports individuals and organisations to embrace accessibility as ‘business as usual’ at no cost.

Simulators

  • *Colour Contrast Analyser by The Paciello Group – The Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) helps you determine the legibility of text and the contrast of visual elements, such as graphical controls and visual indicators. Free install for both Windows and Mac users.
  • Chrome High Contrast extension – with this extension you can check out grayscale to evaluate color contrast, or see how a page converts to high contrast.
  • Coblis — Color Blindness Simulator – If you are not suffering from a color vision deficiency it is very hard to imagine how it looks like to be colorblind. The Color Blindness Simulator can close this gap for you. Just play around with it and get a feeling of how it is to have a color vision handicap.
  • Color Contrast Tools (WebAxe) – a comprehensive list of color contrast tools.
  • Color Oracle – you can download this tool in order to see how your screen looks with various types of colorblindness.
  • Contrast Checker – This tool is built for designers and developers to test color contrast compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These calculations are based on the formulas specified by the W3C.
  • Dyslexia – A friend who has dyslexia described to me how she experiences reading. She can read, but it takes a lot of concentration, and the letters seems to “jump around”. I remembered reading about typoglycemia. Wouldn’t it be possible to do it interactively on a website with Javascript? Sure it would.
  • Funkify Vision – this is an interesting simulator that not only mimics vision impairments but also creates a “jumpy mouse” to mimic difficulty using a mouse.
  • Leonardo – Leonardo is an open source tool for creating adaptive color palettes; a custom color generator for creating colors based on target contrast ratio. Leonardo is delivered as a Javascript module (@adobe/leonardo-contrast-colors) with a web interface to aid in creating your color palette configurations, which can easily be shared with both designers and engineers. Simply put, Leonardo is for dynamic accessibility of your products.
  • NoCoffee Vision Simulator – this simulator allows you to mimic certain vision impairments and blur the text.
  • Who Can Use – It’s a tool that brings attention and understanding to how color contrast can affect different people with visual impairments.

STEM Focused

Web Accessibility

  • WAVE by WebAIM – WAVE is a free evaluation tool. It provides visual feedback about the accessibility of your web content by injecting icons and indicators into your page. No automated tool can tell you if your page is entirely accessible, but WAVE facilitates human evaluation and educates about accessibility issues. WAVE has extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
  • aXe is a self-contained open-source library and testing engine for accessibility. It can be customized to include specialized rules and to integrate with browsers and testing frameworks. aXe was developed to help developers take automated accessibility testing into their own hands and to avoid common pitfalls of other automated accessibility tools.
  • ATBar is an open-source and cross-browser toolbar to help users customize the way they interact with web pages. ATbar allows users to change the look and feel of a page, increase and decrease font sizes, have the text read aloud, use colored overlays, and get readability assistance.
  • WP Accessibility. This plugin helps with many common accessibility problems in WordPress themes. Add a toolbar to toggle between high contrast, large print, and desaturated views of your theme.
  • University of Michigan List of Web Accessibility Tools. List of 11 tools.
  • Siteimprove Accessibility Checker – Excellent for checking pages in combination with Chrome’s inspect tool.

Learning Management System (LMS) / Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

  • Blackboard Ally – Blackboard Ally is a revolutionary product that integrates seamlessly into the Learning Management System and focuses on making digital course content more accessible.
  • Canvas File Cleanup Tool (USU CIDI) – Many courses have extra files that are no longer used in the course. If you would like to identify and clean out those files you can do so using the File Cleanup Tool in Canvas. The File Cleanup Tool helps you quickly identify and delete old, irrelevant files in your course to make the files section of your course easier to manage and more usable and accessible.
  • VLE Accessibility Review Guide (University of York)

Content Remediation

Remediation Services / Companies

  • 247 Accessible Documents – On-demand Accessible Documents. Upload a Document and receive an Accessible PDF, Accessible Word Document or an Accessible PowerPoint that meets Accessibility Standards & Guidelines 2.0 in 5 days.
  • AbleDocs, Inc – AbleDocs makes document accessibility fast, easy, secure, and cost-effective. With best-in-class technology and deep category expertise, Abledocs offers solutions that are compliant every single time.
  • Accessibility Insights (Microsoft) – When teams first use Accessibility Insights, they sometimes see failures that aren’t immediately clear whether they’re false positives or legitimate accessibility issues. In most cases, investigation has revealed that Accessibility Insights has identified a legitimate accessibility issue. In the few cases where an actual false positive has been discovered, the Accessibility Insights team has quickly fixed it and deployed an update.
  • AccessibilityOz – We are an accessibility consultancy with offices in Australia and the United States. We test websites, mobile sites and applications. We work with small and large organisations and Government departments to meet their accessibility obligations.
  • Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC) – The Alternate Text Production Center supports California Community Colleges in meeting the alternate text needs of their students with print-related disabilities. Alternate text includes Braille, tactile graphics, and electronic text. All ATPC services are performed at no charge to California Community Colleges.
  • Blndspt – As one of the leading accessibility & remediation experts in the world, we believe accessibility compliance should be incorporated throughout the entire process of the product. People with Vision Impairments, Motor & Cognitive Disabilities, and Deaf or Hard of Hearing are just part of the entire audience we design for.
  • BrailleWorks – Braille Works is a solution for repair or remediation of your documents so organizations can meet WCAG and 508 compliance standards. WCAG and Section 508 document compliance can be difficult and navigating these waters is not a job for the inexperienced. Elements of a document such as paragraph structure, tables, charts, lists etc, need to be properly organized and tagged to provide true accessibility.
  • Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) – The Center for Inclusive Design & Innovation is committed to the promotion of technological innovation and the development of user-centered research, products, and services for individuals with disabilities. As a research and service center within Georgia Tech’s College of Design, we address unmet needs in higher education, government, non-profits, and corporations by providing accessible and inclusive environments for all.
  • CWU Central Access – Central Access has been in the business of producing alternate formats for almost 30 years. Technology and methods have changed numerous times and we have always strived to not just keep up with this changing technology, but to be leaders in the field. We are dedicated to producing high quality alternative formats no matter what it is. Central Access specializes in producing accessible science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content for students who have print-related disabilities, including specialized materials for students who are blind.
  • CommonLook – NetCentric Technologies, a global leader in document accessibility, provides software products and professional services enabling faster, more cost-efficient, and more reliable processes for achieving compliance with the leading PDF and document accessibility standards, including WCAG, PDF/UA, and Section 508. CommonLook software makes the creation, remediation, and management of accessible PDF and Microsoft Office documents easier than ever before.
  • Equidox – Equidox is an automated solution that simplifies the process of discovering, converting, and publishing PDF documents to WCAG 2.0 compliant HTML.
  • eLaHub – At eLaHub we show you how to meet accessibility standards, and how to make your eLearning resources better for everyone, including people with impairments.
  • inclüd – Accessible content conversion, creation, and consulting services, inclüd provides institutions with a path to accessible information, ensuring that those with exceptional needs can access content tailor made for them.
  • Microassist – The entire Microassist team invests time in understanding a client’s needs and the desired outcome of their training and learning strategy. Microassist creates, delivers, and hosts custom training for our clients’ internal and external learners with a special emphasis in usability and accessibility.
  • Open Access Technologies – Open Access Technologies, Inc. (OAT) is dedicated to helping organizations build fully accessible and usable digital document libraries. OAT’s suite of robust document accessibility tools helps organizations convert and remediate PDF, ePub, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to better serve their customers and comply with mandated accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.1, PDF/UA and Section 508.
  • PubComPubCom has been developing accessible materials since the mid-1990s, before the US Sec. 508 amendment was passed and put into effect in 2000. They offer a suite of services from custom designed accessible templates to an audit of public-facing documents.
  • RoboBrailleRoboBraille is accessible 24/7 as a self-service solution and is available free of charge to individual, non-commercial user not affiliated with an institutional setting obligated to provide support (academic institution, organisation, association or similar). Users need not register in order to use the service. The objective is to support and promote self-sufficiency of people with special needs socially, throughout the educational system and on the labour market. As an additional benefit, RoboBraille helps to protect the privacy of of those who need material in alternate formats.
  • SensusAccess (Powered by RoboBraille) – SensusAccess is a self-service, alternate media solution for educational institutions. SensusAccess allows students, faculty, staff and alumni to automatically convert documents into a range of alternate media including audio books (MP3 and DAISY), e-books (EPUB, EPUB3 and Mobi) and digital Braille. The service can also be used to convert inaccessible documents such as image-only PDF files, JPG pictures and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into more accessible and less tricky formats.
  • T-Base Communications – T-Base Communications takes one digital file and converts it into every accessible format you need: braille, large print, audio or accessible PDF. Guided automation and QA by our subject matter experts ensures a high-quality end product, consistently.

Remediation Tools

  • ABBYY FineReader – FineReader is an all-in-one OCR and PDF software application for increasing business productivity when working with documents. It provides powerful, yet easy-to-use tools to access and modify information locked in paper-based documents and PDF files.
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro DC – The defacto PDF conversion tool. Includes an Accessibility Checker to assess your PDF files.
  • axesPDF QuickFix – axesPDF QuickFix is your time-saving tool to check and remediate PDF documents during the process of making them fully accessible and compliant with PDF/UA, WCAG 2 and Section 508. Accessibility issues are easily found and most of them are fixed instantly with a single click.
  • Free Online OCR – Free Online OCR delivers advanced recognition technology to ensure high quality results. Simply upload a file, choose your preferred output format and click Convert. After the conversion process is complete, you will be able to download your document.
  • Grackle Docs – Grackle is a cloud-based service that can convert Google Doc, Sheet, PDF and Slide into an accessible PDF. Used with Grackle’s Accessibility Checkers, Grackle Docs brings compliance, remediation and version control under one roof.
  • OmniPage – OmniPage solutions offer industry-leading optical character recognition (OCR) for fast, easy, accurate document conversion. Now you can instantly turn paper and digital documents into files you can edit, search and share securely.
  • PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC 2) – PAC 2 quickly tests PDF files for accessibility. PAC 2 is used to support expert and affected tests during assessment. NOTE: The company offering this software, Access for All, is based in Switzerland, you may need to use translation to understand the content.
  • PDFix – Vast majority of PDFs that exist and are created daily are not tagged or are not tagged properly and provide just visual representation of the content. This makes the information invisible for screen readers used by visually impaired people or reading software for users with learning disabilities. Tagged PDF allows an easy navigation and accessible presentation of the content in PDF files reading software for users with learning disabilities.
  • ScanTailor – Scan Tailor is an interactive post-processing tool for scanned pages. It performs operations such as page splitting, deskewing, adding/removing borders, and others. You give it raw scans, and you get pages ready to be printed or assembled into a PDF or DJVU file. Scanning, optical character recognition, and assembling multi-page documents are out of scope of this project.
  • Unlock PDF – An easy-to-use online PDF password remover.

PDF Remediation Resources

Remediation Resources

  • PDF Accessibility Basics Webinar Series Resources (Level Access) – Offers access to the PowerPoint slides, CART Transcript, and Recorded Presentations for the following:
    • PDF Functionality, Part I
    • PDF Functionality, Part II
    • Metadata, Reading Order, and Links
    • Non-Text Elements
    • Data Tables
    • Forms
    • Page Structure
    • Accessibility Checker

Accessibility Consulting and Services

Standards, Guidelines, Indicators

Webinar Series

Standalone Webinars

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), eXtended Reality (XR)

Misc Videos

Video Accessibility

Examples of Accessible Videos

Audio Description

Video Accessibility Tools

  • Able Player – Able Player is a fully accessible cross-browser HTML5 media player. To see the player in action check out the Able Player Examples page.
  • Amara – Amara’s award-winning technology enables you to caption and subtitle any video for free. For larger subtitling projects the platform makes it easy to manage teams of translators. And you can always purchase high-quality captions or translations from our passionate team of professional linguists.
  • DotSub – Dotsub is a browser based, one-stop, self contained system for creating and viewing subtitles for videos in multiple languages across all platforms, including web based, mobile devices, and transcription and video editing systems. It’s easy to use, nothing to buy or download, and it’s fun. You can upload your videos, transcribe and time caption them, translate them into and from any language, and share them with the world.
  • Subtitle Horse – Subtitle Horse is an online subtitle/captions editor. To translate a video simply put in the URL of your file (mp4, ogv, webm, flv, youtube) video and click the submit button. After you finished you can export your subtitles in different formats (VTT, SBV, timedText, SRT, Encore).
  • Using YouDescribe (Jacqueline Wanner) (video) – This video discusses how YouDescribe, a free web-based accessibility tool, can help in solving the ill-structured problem related to assisting learners with visual impairments.
  • YouTube Caption Auditor (YTCA) – YTCA is a utility to collect stats from one or more YouTube channels. It was designed to collect data related to captioning, but could be extended to support other data collection needs.

Captioning Vendors

  • 3PlayMedia – We provide premium closed captioning, transcription, audio description, and subtitling solutions at very competitive prices. Our goal is to simplify the process by providing a user-friendly account system, fast turnaround, flexible API’s, and integrations with a multitude of video players, platforms, and lecture capture systems. We create closed captions and subtitles in many different formats and languages. We also develop video search plugins and a range of tools that save time and cut costs. Our commitment to innovation has led to 7 patents (granted and pending)–all of which focus on making the captioning, subtitling, and transcription process more efficient and less expensive.
  • Ai-Media – Ai-Media is founded on the belief that every single person deserves equal access. From Facebook and NASA to global events and local classes, our solutions address three key needs – accessibility, engagement and analytics. With a product portfolio spanning captioning, transcription, translation, audio description and speech analytics, we help you reach your whole audience.
  • Alternative Communication Services – The mission of Alternative Communication Services (ACS) is to provide the highest quality voice-to-text and sign language services possible, delivering these services to consumers throughout the world, and recognizing the unique strengths of each individual in the process. The translation of the spoken English word translated instantaneously into English text. This can be achieved through a number of methods including: CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation), Captioning and Text Interpreting (TypeWell).
  • American Council of the Blind Services Involved With Audio Description – List of all the individual, organization, and corporate services that we know about in the USA that are involved with audio description, provided the organization has validated the information in the previous three years.
  • Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) – Has been providing closed captioning services for over 14 years, producing more than 5 million caption files for over 5,000 customers. In 2003, AST was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the United States Department of Education, providing the company’s initial funding. Founders Kevin Erler, Ph.D. and Brent Robertson then worked in collaboration with a team of expert advisors to develop the most cost-efficient, high quality, closed captioning service available today.
  • CaptionMax – Captionmax is one of North America’s largest full-service media accessibility companies. We provide closed captioning for prerecorded media and realtime events, subtitling and localization services, description, and specialized scripts. Our clients range from the biggest names in media and entertainment, to large corporations, to education institutions and government entities.
  • cielo24 – cielo24’s cutting-edge video solution technology enables us to create detailed information about the content within your videos, which in turn amplifies your video discovery, engagement, reach and compliance. This can include speaker identification, audio transcript and visual information (faces, actions, products, etc.). This information can also be used to generate video insights including topics, keywords and ad words for targeting and asset management.
  • Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) – The Center for Inclusive Design & Innovation is committed to the promotion of technological innovation and the development of user-centered research, products, and services for individuals with disabilities. As a research and service center within Georgia Tech’s College of Design, we address unmet needs in higher education, government, non-profits, and corporations by providing accessible and inclusive environments for all.
  • Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) Captioning Service Vendors – This listing was prepared from information provided by various captioning-related sources and from surveys conducted by the DCMP.
  • Otter.ai – Generate rich notes for meetings, interviews, lectures, and other important voice conversations with Otter, your AI-powered assistant. Otter.ai creates technologies and products that make information from important voice conversations instantly accessible and actionable.
  • Stellar Services – At Stellar we understand and deliver outstanding results across 3 key Access areas: American Sign Language Interpreting, CART Captioning and TypeWell Transcription.
  • Valerie H Productions – All my life, starting in the United States and then in Canada, I’ve been writing and reading things aloud. For a couple decades, that meant working in radio as an announcer, producer and what we used to call a DJ. For more than another decade, it has mainly meant describing visual media so people who are blind, visually impaired, learning English, or just not looking to understand what’s going on.
  • Verbit.ai – A VerbIT transcription process starts with an adaptive AI engine that automatically transcribes content at very high accuracy, regardless of subject matter or accent. A sophisticated algorithm distributes each file through 2-layers of human transcribers within seconds, and checks for congruence, localized spelling and other common inaccuracies. The entire process is extremely fast, and yields +99% accuracy.
  • WGBH Media Access Group – As an original innovator of closed captioning and audio description, the Media Access Group (MAG) provides services across all media platforms. With offices in Boston and Los Angeles, we customize our workflow based on your content and technology needs.

Comprehensive Resources

College’s and University’s IT Accessibility Policies

College’s and University’s Accessibility Sites

  • Amherst College
    • Digital Accessibility for Teaching & Learning @ Amherst
    • Accessible Educational Materials- Resources & Links
    • Accessibility Resources for Teaching and Learning During COVID-19
  • Auburn Accessibility
    • AU’s Web Accessibility Initiative
    • Universal Design in Learning
    • Technology Trainings
    • Built-In Accessibility
    • Creating Accessible Textbooks, Documents, Presentations, and Emails
    • Captioning Videos
    • Apple Accessibility
    • Technologies to Assist with Learning
    • Canvas Accessibility
  • Lower Columbia College Accessibility Resources
    • Accessibility Webinar Recordings
    • Laws & Policies
    • Why Accessibility Matters
    • Access vs. Accommodation
    • Terms & Concepts
    • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
    • Accessible Design Principles
    • Using and Procuring Accessible Technology and Materials
    • Being an Accessibility Advocate
    • Creating an Action Plan: Part I
    • Creating an Action Plan: Part II
    • CTC Listserv
  • Minnesota IT Services’ Office of Accessibility
    • Training
    • Documents
    • Maps
    • Meetings
    • Multimedia
    • Social Media
    • Web & Apps
  • North Carolina State University Accessibility
      • For Faculty and Staff
      • For IT Staff and Developers
      • Training
      • Procurement
  • *Portland State Community College Accessibility
    • About Online Accessibility
    • Course Accessibility Review
    • Designing Online Content
    • Training Opportunities
    • DIY Accessibility Checking
    • Publisher Content Guidelines
    • Subject Area Studies
  • PennState University Accessibility
    • Accommodations – What are the different needs for different audiences?
    • Blockers – Find what items such as images, tables and headings need to be fixed to facilitate universal access.
    • Courses – Issues such as course guidelines, STEM content, foreign language and other course needs are addressed here.
    • Guidelines – Links to different Penn State policies and accessibility guidelines.
    • Websites – Implement accessibility in different Web site components including forms, tables and CSS.
    • Multimedia – Information about video captions, images and other media.
    • Testing/Triage – Tools and methods for auditing your content.
    • Software – Learn about accessibility in Word/PowerPoint, Canvas, Sites at Penn State and more.
    • Training – Discover available training in multiple formats.
  • Salt Lake Community College Accessibility
    • Universal Design Basics
    • Accessibility Laws
    • Accessible Course Materials
    • Accommodation Procedures
    • Syllabus Statement
  • University of Cincinnati Accessibility
    • Student Resources
    • Faculty/Staff Resources
    • Policies and Grievance Procedure
    • Electronic Accessibility
  • University of Washington Accessibility
    • UW Policy
    • IT Accessibility Guidelines
    • IT Accessibility Checklist & Tutorial
    • IT Accessibility Leadership
    • Progress & Plan
    • Getting Started
    • Creating Documents
    • Creating Videos
    • Developing Websites
    • Designing Online Courses
    • Procuring IT
    • Managing for Accessibility
    • Getting Help
    • Events & Collaboration
    • Laws, Policies & Standards

Examples of Creative Marketing Strategies Around Accessibility

MOOCs and Courses

Legal Resources

Procurement

Procurement Resources

Examples of Accessible Procurement Processes

Cognitive Disabilities / Cognitive Accessibility

User Experiences / Personas

Social Media

Books

Purchased

OER

Favorite Speakers / Professionals

Accessibility Models

Places to Publish Accessibility-Related Articles

Reasonable to Ask Faculty to Do

Microsoft Word

  • Run the built-in MS Accessibility Checker before publishing or sharing with students.
  • Use a font size of at least 12px.
  • Ensure that there is sufficient contrast between text and background. The Paciello Group Contrast Analyzer is a great tool.
  • Ensure that proper heading styles are used.
  • Ensure that a logical heading structure is used.
  • Ensure that images have an alternative description that can convey the full meaning of the image.
  • Ensure that tables are used for tabular data only.
  • Ensure that all tables have column headings.
  • Ensure that all lists use built-in list functionality.
  • Ensure that all links have text that describes the target.

Microsoft PowerPoint

  • Run the built-in MS Accessibility Checker before publishing or sharing with students.
  • Use a font size of at least 12px.
  • Ensure that there is sufficient contrast between text and background. The Paciello Group Contrast Analyzer is a great tool.
  • Ensure that each slide has a title.
    • You can use smaller text and changing the font color to “hide” the title, if the title will diminish the aesthetic of the slide but it will still be usable for screen reader users.
  • Ensure that images have an alternative description that can convey the full meaning of the image.
  • Ensure that tables are used for tabular data only.
  • Ensure that all tables have column headings.
  • Ensure that all lists use built-in list functionality.
  • Ensure that all links have text that describes the target.
  • Use a template when starting a new PowerPoint from scratch.
  • Send publisher content back to publisher if there are substantial errors.

PDF

  • Add alt text to images (if have access to Adobe Acrobat Professional).
  • Ensure that all PDFs are tagged when using PDFs from publishers or library databases.
  • Search for and/or work with librarians to find better source files for low-quality scanned PDFs.

May Not Be Reasonable to Ask Faculty to Do

PDF

  • OCRing low-quality scanned PDFs.

Empathy Lab

VPATs

G Suite (Google Suite)

Copyright/Fair Use

Research Articles

Remote Meetings and Events

Map Accessibility

Game Accessibility

COVID