Assistive Technology and Accessibility

By Todd Betteker, Accessibility Specialist and Chad Lamb, Senior Test Engineer

Automated Section 508 compliance web scanning software has become a popular tool for accessible code testing over the last decade. This blog will discuss some of the software’s pros and cons to determine if it’s the right tool for your organization.

By: Kristen Smith-O’Connor, Senior Accessibility Subject Matter Expert

Learning accessibility standards, techniques, and testing methodologies can seem overwhelming. You may not know where to start; you may need to refresh your skills; or you may want to find resources to share with colleagues to build accessibility expertise. Below are some of the many resources available to help you on your accessibility journey.

By: Ann Marie Davis, Senior Section 508 Technical Specialist

“Making accessible technology is a lot like making blueberry muffins.  You can’t put the blueberries in the muffin after the muffin is baked.” - Cordelia McGee-Tubb, web accessibility engineer at Salesforce

Too often, accessibility has been an afterthought and accessibility teams have been viewed as “enforcers,” rather than collaborators with shared goals – until the development of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Section 508 Playbook!

By Elizabeth Lee, Project Assistant

By: Cindy Ryan, Vice President 

In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 virus accelerated a move to a remote and digitally dependent workforce. Many companies were able to accommodate employees working from home by providing a few technological changes and additional equipment to enable workers to maintain communication with their colleagues, supervisors, and clients. Some even found that productivity increased for employees working from home. The success of this remote workforce revealed a side benefit for people with disabilities.

By: Kristen Smith-O’Connor, Senior Accessibility Subject Matter Expert

By Cindy Ryan, Vice President

By Kristen Smith-O’Connor, Senior 508 Accessibility Analyst

WebAim performed a survey on a million home pages and found a substantial number of issues centered around what testers would call “easy-picking” tests; those that take little effort to test and where - as a tester - you are sure to find a failure. The top failures were low contrast, images without alternative text, empty links, missing form input buttons, empty buttons, and lack of document language.

                By Ann Marie Davis, Senior Section 508 Analyst

There are so many methods for accessibility testing. How do you know what is most effective? What is the most reliable?

Overview

Instructional design is a systematic process for designing learning experiences and materials to improve learner performance and retention. Whether you’re using Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, Lectora, or other eLearning authoring tools to design online courses, consider broadening your audience to include those with disabilities who rely on assistive technologies.