a11y (digital accessibility)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This podcast explores the intersection of accessibility and cybersecurity. #accessibility

This talk is a little older but Adrian does a great job highlighting how to make digital accessibility relevant to the designer.

I saw this trending on Lemmy. I'm glad that Wikipedia is focusing on using color accessibly and introducing a dark mode.

This article explores how the updated Americans with Disabilities Act will require public K-12 schools, universities, and vendors to make their digital content accessible. I think the biggest takeaway is that the updated legislation will raise awareness about the need for accessible digital content. As institutions work to become compliant students with disabilities should encounter more accessible course materials and fewer instructional barriers.

This new article examines digital accessibility in higher education by conducting interviews. It highlights how higher education relies on digital accessibility champions to raise awareness about best practices. Yet, many departments are siloed so that only extends so far. Institutions focus on remediating inaccessible content rather than implementing processes to ensure new content is accessible. Trainings usually fail to reach new members.

This is a session from last year's arXiv Forum. The forum focuses on making research and math accessible. Lucas Nadolskis highlights barriers he encountered as a blind doctoral student in one of last year's sessions. The 2024 arXiv Forum is in September. Check out ArXiv Accessibility Forum for more information.

This case study explores how a team made a character counter more accessible for The UK Government. The character counter announced the number of characters too frequently. This could be distracting for a person using screen reading software trying to enter a response. The team broke down the roles of the character counter and created multiple accessible components. It now only announces the number of characters when it is relevant and unintrusive.

This article examines 4 separate arguments for digital accessibility. This includes moral/ethical, user experience, business, and legal arguments supporting digital accessibility. The author explores how these arguments connect and the need to use multiple approaches to garner support for creating accessible digital content.