Life was good, and there I was humming along with my new Microsoft Office 2008 for the MAC… having a grand ole time inserting the new MACish clip art into a new artsy PowerPoint template. Things were going great, and I was actually thinking about praising Microsoft for a creating decent product for a change.

Then this weekend it hit me. There is no option to add alternate text for images in Microsoft Word 2008. What the hell? Do they expect that MAC people are all artsy-fartsy types who don’t care about making accessible technology and only care about making pretty pictures? I am teaching a course on Accessible Electronic & Information Technologies, and Microsoft is forcing me to revert back to my old, decrepit PC in order to make accessible Word documents.

Microsoft Word 2008: Good for Artsy-fartsy shit / bad for Accessible technology development

I cannot believe this negligent oversight that has occurred. Is technology moving backwards? Microsoft Office 2007 for PC has these accessibility options, but a year later they can’t get it right for another OS? I feel like they rushed the development of this software to push it out the door. I feel cheated. Not only is Microsoft cheating me and other accessible technology developers, but they are also cheating the disabled users utilize the inaccessible documents that are created by this substandard product.

Spent a partial day with fellow employee Phil Lomboy discussing the finer points of video captioning with Camtasia. I’m looking forward to getting all of my “head notes” into a powerpoint presentation / resource list for more than one person to utilize. We are on our way to a more technologically accessible campus, yo.

Published in In Touch with Student Services, Vol. 16, No. 1

By now most of us know that our websites and other campus technologies need to be accessible. A common question I hear is, “Is my website ADA or whatever?” The mystery of accessibility seems daunting at times, especially when we are flooded with the acronym soup that accompanies it (ADA, ATI, 508, VPAT, OMG).

There are a variety of tools that assist with “reading,” perceiving and using computers. Individuals with print impairments, such as those associated with vision or learning disabilities, commonly use screen readers that “read the screen aloud” to them. People with motor disabilities often use assistive technologies that enable them to access their computers without using a mouse or a keyboard. The importance of textual transcripts for lectures or videos becomes evident when considering computer users who are hearing impaired.

The place to start with accessible technology is to understand the need to integrate accessibility into everyday processes, such as creating Word documents, designing webpages or purchasing software. Building accessibility into a process is much more effective than reaching the end of a project and realizing, “It’s done. Oops, is it accessible?”

The Basics

The following list provides a few basics for designing accessible documents.

• Images and photos must have text-based descriptions to provide relevant visual information to the visually impaired. (For example, a photo of a campus scene may be described as, “Students sitting on the lawn on a sunny day.”)
• Hyperlinks should be written as actions that describe the link’s destination. Rather than using “Click Here,” use “Download the Request Form.”
• Videos and live audio must have text-based captions and/or transcripts. “Type what you hear.” Include narratives for silent portions of videos to provide relevant visual information, i.e., “Little Red Riding Hood walks through the forest gathering flowers.”

As you incorporate accessible design into your daily processes, it will become second nature. The public expectation for accessible technology will eventually be as commonplace as current presumptions that most buildings have ramps and elevators for wheelchair access. We are involved in a fascinating shift of paving the electronic ramps of the future.

Advanced principles for accessible design can be found at http://webaim.org/intro.

Keira Dooley is art director and webmaster for the Division of Student Services.