Accessible Instructional Technology Web Sites

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Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 36 CFR Part 1194
Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, published in the the Federal Register on December 21, 2000.
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm

Subsection B Technical Standards
Guide to the Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/index.htm

Section 508
Portal for compilation of federal resources related to enacting
Section 508 standards.
http://www.section508.gov

Buy Accessible
Database where vendors provide information about accessible information technology products.
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=2

Section 508 Standards
Standards for Subparts A-General, B-Technical Standards, C-Functional Performance Criteria, and D-Information, Documentation, and Support
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12

Section 508, Subpart B - Technical Standards

§ 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content
&ID=12#Software
§ 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content
&ID=12#Web
§ 1194.23 Telecommunications products
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&
ID=12#Telecommunications
§ 1194.24 Video and multimedia products
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content
&ID=12#Video
§ 1194.25 Self contained, closed products
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content
&ID=12#Self
§ 1194.26 Desktop and portable computers
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content
&ID=12#Desktop

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
An accessibility checklist to guide assessment of commercial electronic and information Technology products with features that support accessibility developed by the Information Technology Industry Council
http://www.itic.org/policy/vpat.html

Section 508 Training
Resources supporting training initiatives in federal agencies responsible for implementing Section 508 Standards
http://www.section508.gov/508/

Accessibility Forum
A coalition of experts on accessibility from government, industry, higher education, and disabilities advocacy who provide technical assistance to support solutions for implementation of Section 508, currently sponsored by the U. S. General Services Administration
http://accessibilityforum.org/about_forum/index.html

Glossary
Definitions of key terminology in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
http://www.section508.gov/508/asp/glossary.asp

Accessibility Laws, Policies, and Programs

Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA)
Government Services Administration online resource for managing
accessibility issues in federal agencies
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/content/offerings_content.jsp?
contentOID=22804&contentType=1004&P=1&S=1

Information Technology Access Laws and Policies
Summary of critical features
http://www.ataporg.org/summary%20text.htm

Acquisition

Maryland Education Enterprise Cortium (MEEC)
RFP # USMSC 2001-06
Addendum # 1, P. INSERT:
Section III.F.1.2.27 Assistive Technology (Desirable Item)
http://www.usmsc.edu/procurement/2001-06addendum1.pdf

Higher Education

Gallaudet Unversity Technology Access Program
Information and resources on accessible telecommunications products
http://tap.gallaudet.edu/

Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility
Provides developers of Web-based instructional materials a resource on how to design their resources to be more accessible to people with disabilities.
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu

University of Washington's DO-IT Program (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology
Resources to support productive use of information technology by people with disabilities.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/

University of Washington's Access IT, National Center on Accessible Information Technology and Education
Access IT promotes the use of electronic and information technology (E&IT) for students and employees with disabilities in educational institutions at all academic levels.
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/index.php

University of Wisconsin TRACE Center
Accessible Software Guidelines
http://trace.wisc.edu/world/computer_access/software/
Designing More Useable Web Sites
Focused on cooperative efforts for building a more useable Web.
http://trace.wisc.edu/world/web/

Industry Organizations

American Society of Training and Development (ASTD)
Learning Circuits, Accessibility: What You Should Know
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2001/oct2001/salopek.html

Blue Web'n
Blue Web'n is a searchable database of about 1000 outstanding Internet learning sites categorized by subject area, audience, and type (lessons, activities, projects, resources, references & tools). Blue Web'n focuses on evaluating only the most useful sites with online activities targeted at learners. Discussion is underway to add accessibility to the Rubric for Evaluating Applications
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/

Bookshare
This site offers electronic texts of ever 7,500 books to readers with a visual or reading disability by using an exemption in copyright law that allows people with impairments to share electronic copies of texts without purchasing them or obtaining permission. Users of the site must send in a disability form approved by a medical professional, pay a $25 sign-up fee, and a $50 annual subscription fee. The electronic texts are particularly useful to blind users who can feed the texts into text-to-speech software.
http://www.bookshare.org/web/Welcome.html

IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.
A consortium interested in developing and promoting open specifications for facilitating online distributed learning activities such as locating and using educational content, tracking learner progress, reporting learner performance, and exchanging student records between administrative systems, IMS Guidelines for Developing Accessible Learning Applications
http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/8-7-01/contents.asp

Natonal Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)
http://ncam.wgbh.org/
Design guidelines for making educational software accessible, including math and science solutions
http://ncam.wgbh.org/cdrom/guideline/

WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
A partnership between industry and higher education to research and develop accessible web authoring tools as well as provide training, technical assistance, and dissemination of information about web accessibility for people with disabilities.
http://www.webaim.org/

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative
Commited to leading the Web to its full potential for promoting a high
degree of usability for people with disabilities, with more extensive technical standards than Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Training

Adaptive Environments, The ADA and Public Schools:
Access for All
Video production and related resources on implementing the ADA in public schools
http://www.adaptenv.org/schools/video.php

Apple Accessibility Features
Overview of Macintosh accessibility features
http://www.apple.com/disability/easyaccess.html

Equal Access to Software and Information
A resource for providing information and guidance in the area of acces to information technologies by individuals with disabilities for colleges, universities, K-12 schools, libraries and into the workplace
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/

Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility
Course: Designing Universally Accessible WWW Resources for People with Disabilities
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/courses/2001-10-REHAB711NC/index.html

Microsoft Accessibility, Technology for Everyone
Step by Step Tutorials Overview
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/default.htm

Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), Education Division
Accessibility: Making Education Technology Accessible to Students with Disabilities
http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/8-7-01/contents.asp

South Carolina Website Accessibility Workgroup
List of web accessibility training resources, free and fee-based
http://webaccess.scetv.org/training.html

Web Accessibility Tutorial
Virginia Tech's free online tutorial about web accessibility
http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/accessible/IT/Tutorial/Default.htm

Southeast Disability and Business Technical Center
Promotes accessible education information technology (EIT) by providing current and accurate information and technical assistance regarding ADA and accessible EIT.
http://www.sedbtac.org/

Vendors
Selected vendors with models for providing accessibility information on their computer-based instructional technology products

Software and operating systems

Adobe Acrobat Solutions for Accessibility, Adobe Acrobat 5
Provides new capabilities that improve access for users with disabilities.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html

Adobe Acrobat Access for Acrobat and Reader 4.0X
The Adobe Acrobat Access Plug-in 4.05 enables users with vision impairments to read Adobe PDF documents in Acrobat 4.0x or Acrobat Reader 4.0x
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?hexID=5efe

IBM Software Accessibility Checklist
A tool for evaluation of software using Section 508, Subpart B, Technical Standards
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/accesssoftware.html

Microsoft Accessibility, Technology for Everyone
Overview of Product Resources
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/default.htm

Riverdeep, Special Needs, Universal Access
Information on how products meet universal learning needs.
http://www.riverdeep.net/special_needs/sn_universal_access.jhtml

Web-based intranet and internet information and applications

Blackboard Accessibility
Find out about Blackboard's accessibility projects, resources, 508
implementation, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and screen
reader tutorial
http://products.blackboard.com/cp/bb5/access/index.cgi

Gale Group Electronic Product Accessibility
Information on how Gale Group products meet Section 508,
SubsectionB - Technical Standards
http://www.galegroup.com/press_room/article/oct01_electronic.htm

IBM Accessibility Center
Find out about products, services, resources, events, information,
and regulations related to disabilities
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/

SIRS Publishing, Inc. Web Accessibility Statement
Information on the accessibility standards that SIRS web products meet
http://www.sirs.com/corporate/accessibility.htm

Sun Microsystems Accessibility Program
Section 508 information, resources from articles and conferences, and information for developers
http://www.sun.com/access/

Self contained, closed products

Palm Accessibility Program
Information on how Palm is working to make their products accessible as well as an assessment of how their products meet the Section 508 Technical Standards
http://www.palm.com/about/corporate/pap/