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