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>>Sheryl: My name is Sheryl Burgstahler
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and I direct Accessible Technology Services
at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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Our services also reach out to our
branch campuses in Bothell and Tacoma.
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>>Hadi: My name is Hadi Rangin
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and I’m a member of the IT Accessibility Team
at the University of Washington.
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>>Narrator: Hadi’s an accessibility expert,
and he's also a user of accessible technology.
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He uses a refreshable Braille display
and screen reading software
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that reads everything on the screen.
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>>Hadi: I am blind and I use
a screen reader program
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at home and here, everywhere.
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A screen reader program is software
that communicates with the operating system
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and conveys the information to me.
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[screen reader reads fast]
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>>Hadi: Even if you are
reading as a sighted person,
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you do not read every content
at the same speed.
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Right?
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Sometimes you have to make a pause
and then review what you have read
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and then digest the information.
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For us it's the same thing.
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When we are reading, for example,
normal conversation we can read it very fast.
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But when we are reading technical content
then we go a little slower.
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We make more pauses.
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>>Screen reader: Accessible University.
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One.
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>>Hadi: I have slowed down
my screen reader program.
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>>Screen reader: Banner.
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Heading level one
graphic Accessible University.
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Banner end.
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>>Hadi: But if it is, for example,
about email I can go...
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>>Screen reader: Faster faster faster faster
faster
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[so fast that audio becomes unintelligible].
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>>Hadi: I can go that fast.
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>>Narrator: But it’s not enough
for Hadi to have a screen reader.
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Websites must be designed accessibly
in order for the screen reader
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to provide a full experience
of the webpage.
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>>Hadi: I would like
to show you two pages
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that are visually pretty much
consistent, identical.
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But one of them is accessible.
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One of them is not accessible.
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You will see in an inaccessible page
how difficult it is
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when those accessibility features
are not present.
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>>Hadi: This is the...
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>>Screen reader: Accessible University
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>>Hadi: This is the
accessible version of
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a fictional university that
we have developed here.
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We call that Accessible University.
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Here for example,
on this accessible page,
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I can ask my screen reader to show me
the major components of the page.
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>>Screen reader: Document Regions Dialog.
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Regions tree view.
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>>Hadi: It tells me
we have a banner section.
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>>Screen reader: Main menu navigation
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>>Hadi: We have a main menu section...
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>>Screen reader: Main
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>>Hadi: And the main body...
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>>Screen reader: Apply Now form.
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>>Hadi: There is another region...
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>>Screen reader: content information
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>>Hadi: and content information
which is the same as footer section.
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So assuming the page has
been developed correctly,
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I have good idea about the
major components of the page.
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>>Hadi: Let me now go to see this page,
the inaccessible version of this page.
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>>Screen reader: Home Page,
Accessible University
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>>Hadi: This looks pretty much the same
as the other one, the accessible version
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but here when I ask my screen reader
to convey the major components...
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>>Screen reader: No region found
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>>Hadi: It said "no region found."
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So for me, practically,
I have to read from top to bottom.
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If those accessibility
features are not present,
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everything has the same weight.
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So we do not, there is no way
for us to say that
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where a major section starts
or where it ends.
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It is really not just the
fact reading the content,
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it is also about navigation.
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We have to discover the page
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and then that is the most
time-consuming problem.
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Once you know where you are,
what you are reading,
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then it is usually fine.
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But the discovery process
or navigation process
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is the most complicated process
in an accessibility field.
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In order to do it I have to
read from top to bottom.
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Whereas in the accessible version,
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I could easily see what
the major components were
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and then select the desired ones
and move to that section quickly.
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>>Screen reader: Leaving menus.
Heading List dialog. Headings List view.
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>>Hadi: Headings is also
a means to get information
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about the structure
of the content.
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It gives me a good understanding,
a good overview, about
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the major or minor
components of the content.
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So I see that here...
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>>Screen reader: Welcome 2.
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Featured Stories Slideshow 2.
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Accessible University 1.
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>>Hadi: Accessible University itself
is a Heading 1 and under that we have...
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>>Screen reader: Feature Stories.
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>>Hadi: Feature Stories,
which is Heading 2.
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It automatically conveys
the information
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that this section is a
subsection of the heading above.
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You know you will see also
that overall get an outline
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of the page and the
major sections of that.
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That is the difference between
accessible and inaccessible.
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>>Sheryl: That screen reader can only access
the text that's presented on the screen
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and so if someone just scans in a document
and puts an image up on their website
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that screen reader is not going
to be able to read that content.
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And so the web developer in that case
needs to know to create all their materials
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so that they're accessible
to a screen reader, in other words
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so they can access the text for that
screen reader to read it aloud
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to a person who's blind.
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>>Screen reader: Enter.
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Message from.
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Hi All.
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>>Sheryl: It’s essential that
people with disabilities
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have access to assistive technology
but that’s not the end of the story.
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In order for them to be
effective users of technology,
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the technology that
other people develop
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like websites and software
and PDF files and so forth
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must be designed in such a way
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that they can use it with
their assistive technology.