Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product (e.g., device, service, environment) is accessible by as many people as possible, and the ventures to produce accessible products and services. Accessibility is often used to focus on people with disabilities and their right of access to entities, often through use of assistive technology.
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A website containing templates for producing accessible design using Adobe software products. These documents detail the accessibility features of Adobe products in the context of U.S. government regulations as contained in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
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Section 508 Web Accessibility Now a Federal Law!
Web design at Federal departments and agencies just got orders of magnitude more complex. In 1998, President Clinton signed into law Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The law, aimed at making government technology accessible to 120,000 disabled federal employees and 50 million other disabled Americans, went into effect June 21, 2001. Unlike the OSHA Ergonomic Program that was universally reviled by the Republican Administration and was immediately repealed upon President Bush taking office, Section 508 has been widely endorsed by President Bush and his Cabinet. This rule is here to stay. Commended by disability groups throughout the nation, Section 508 is an important step in making technology accessible to everyone. With hundreds of government agencies rethinking their technology investments, the effects of Section 508 will be felt throughout the public and private sectors. Section 508 marks the beginning of a new era in technology development. For the first time disabled employees and users of government-sponsored technology are in the driver's seat. And the controls they need are no small matter.
Mauro, Charles L. TaskZ (2001). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Section 508
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Section 508, Documentation and the US Software Market
This article outlines how you can ensure that your software documentation conforms to the new accessibility legislation in the US.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2003). Articles>Documentation>Accessibility>Section 508
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Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.
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Sighted people are able to quickly scan over an entire Web page. They can visually skip past the advertisements, past the main navigation and go directly to the main content. They can ignore the extraneous information all around the main content, without ever having to pay attention to it. Those who use screen readers experience Web sites a little differently. They are not able to immediately zero in on the main content of a Web page. They must find it by listening to the advertisements and the main navigation system. They can speed up the process by tabbing from link to link, but they risk missing an important piece of information this way. The experience is definitely different.
WebAIM (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Separate Text-Only Version? No Thanks
In an attempt to make their sites accessible to all, more and more websites are now offering text-only versions of their sites. Find out why this is a really bad idea.
Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Serving Special Needs in Technical Communication 
Some 43 million Americans have disabilities, under the definitions provided in the American Disabilities Act. Only one fourth of working-age Americans with disabilities who are capable of fully productive employment have jobs. Grim statistical realities like these prompted the Society for Technical Communication to form a Special Needs Committee (SNC) to address the needs of its members (as well as its end users) who have disabilities. This article provides a brief history of the SNC, outlines its goals and objectives, and introduces some of its members. The SNC welcomes the development of a “sister” group within the American Translators Association (ATA), and would like to pool resources to help fellow professionals whose careers—and lives—have been derailed by disabilities.
Voss, Daniel W. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Accessibility>TC
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Setting and Retrieving Accesskeys with JavaScript and DOM
There are some things in the world of accessibility that appear, on the face of it, to be really wonderful ideas… until you scratch slightly below the service. What may seem feasible when putting together some guidelines on accessibility might not ultimately translate well to a real-world application. Hands up who can remember the last time they felt compelled to use a longdesc attribute? And what about the accesskey attribute? Oh, you have used them you say. OK, let’s back up a little and find out what went wrong here.
Lloyd, Ian. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>JavaScript
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Setting Learner Goals and Objectives
While pursuing my undergraduate degree in business education, I took an entire semester-long course on writing good learner goals and objectives. Though I won't pass on everything I learned, I do want to stress the importance of establishing goals and objectives for your learners (as well as for yourself) and provide some tips for establishing effective, measurable goals and objectives.
WebAIM (2001). Articles>Education>Accessibility
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Setting Usability Requirements For A Web Site Containing A Form
We describe the challenges of understanding and setting usability requirements for a web site containing a form. We define 'usability requirements.' Ideally, usability requirements should be defined early in a project. In practice, we often find that the first opportunity we have is when we are asked to undertake an evaluation. Collecting the users' opinions of the requirements as part of the evaluation can often prompt the organization into investigating the users, leading to a better set of requirements and, eventually, a better web site.
Miller, Sarah and Caroline Jarrett. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Accessibility>Web Design>Usability
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Side-by-Side Comparison of Section 508 and WCAG
The differences between the Section 508 accessibility guidelines and the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Thatcher, Jim. JimThatcher.com (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Section 508
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Six Principles of Accessible Web Design: An Introduction to the WAI Page Author Guidelines
An introduction to the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Bartlett, Kynn. HTML Writers Guild (1998). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Advice, guides and reviews from web accessibility specialist, Matthew Ogston.
Ogston, Matthew. Social Publishing Blog, The (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Starting from the basics of Active Accessibility, this article leads you through the development of a software testing application. You'll see how this testing application interacts with common controls and other UI elements, then processes the resulting WinEvents.
Klementiev, Dmitri. Microsoft (2000). Articles>Accessibility>Software>Microsoft Windows
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The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act was given Royal Assent on 11 May, and will begin to come into effect from 1 September 2002. The Act removes the previous exemption of education from the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), ensuring that discrimination against disabled students will be unlawful. Institutions will incur additional responsibilities in 2003, with the final sections of legislation coming into effect in 2005. The legislation will apply to the UK, with the exception, at the moment, of Northern Ireland. As the Act is an amendment to the existing Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), it only protects people defined as disabled according to that legislation. This definition is based on an individual's ability to carry out 'normal day-to-day' activities, and so may exclude some students who are usually considered disabled by the support systems within their institutions. Under the new law all publicly-funded further and higher education institutions, schools with post-16 provision, and local authorities when they provide further, adult or continuing education or training will have responsibilities.
Corlett, Sophie. TechDis (2001). Articles>Accessibility>Legal>United Kingdom
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Speechlet is a system which allows blind students of the Java programming language to use existing course material. Most Java courses use program examples that generate graphic output. The main reason for this is that students enjoy writing programs that produce interesting and exciting outputs. However, a blind student is unable to see the output of their program and is unable to even gauge that their program has worked. Speechlet was therefore produced to allow a blind student to move the mouse pointer over the screen and hear a spoken description of what is there. This paper discusses the reasons for the development of Speechlet, followed by a description of its operation and finally a discussion of its use in practise.
Mullier, D.J. TechDis (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Software
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STC Special Needs Special Interest Group
The Special Needs SIG serves as a focal point both to help members with special needs achieve their potential and to help ensure the accessibility of technical communication products to end users with special needs. We accomplish this by researching and publishing information about products, services, and literature that can assist technical communicators with disabilities in their career activities and to assist all technical communicators in developing products that are fully accessible to users with disabilities.
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Stephen Hawking and Me - Flash MX Accessibility
An article that features tips on building accessible sites in Flash MX.
evolt (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash
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The Stomper Scrutinizer: Web Browser w/Visual Simulation 
The Stomper Scrutinizer is a webkit based browser that includes a simulation of human foveal and peripheral vision. By providing a realistic distortion of non-focused page content, the Scrutinizer reveals the perceptability of design features. It is also useful for conducting usability tests, design reviews, and has a number of features (including screenshots) for talking about design.
Andy Edmonds. StomperNet (2007). Resources>Software>Accessibility>Web Design
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Stuckness and Low Vision: How Technology and Socratic Classroom Dialog Changed My Life
The author shares some stories from her own life that may be useful in helping Web page designers and product developers better understand issues surrounding low vision, hearing loss, and mobility restrictions using her 'art of accommodation.' In this article, she discusses this art as it applies to seven areas: (1) reading structural cues and wayfinding, (2) multimedia, (3) graphics, (4) text design and visual threshold, (5) contrast, (6) glare and size of electronic displays, and (7) mobility.
Reece, Gloria A. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Education>Accessibility>Web Design
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Stuckness and Low Vision: How Technology and Socratic Classroom Dialogue Changed my Life
Gloria discusses her low-vision condition, the problems it poses in her life and work and the accommodation strategies she has developed.
Reece, Gloria A. Usability Interface (2003). Design>Usability>Accessibility>Visual
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Suggerimenti per un Flash Accessibile
Realizzare siti usabili in Flash è una questione di mentalità e non di prodotto. L'autore ci indica 10 suggerimenti per rendere le animazioni Flash più usabili ed accessibili.
Volpon, Antonio. FucinaWeb (2002). (Italian) Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash
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Summer Internship @ Google, Inc.: Accessibility Experiences
This paper summarizes some of the major lessons learned about conducting usability tests with visually impaired participants while working as interns at Google, Inc. The lessons were in four major areas: (1) recruitment and scheduling, (2) preparing the usability lab for testing sessions, (3) using think-aloud protocol with screen readers, and (4) helping observers to get the most out of the test sessions.
Shaikh, A. Dawn and Philip Strain. Usability News (2007). Careers>Internships>Accessibility>Visual
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Surpassing Gutenberg--Access to Published Information for Blind Readers
We examine some surprising reasons to explain why electronic book publishing will become a versatile medium comprising 10% of all consumer book sales in the U.S. by 2005, estimated by Anderson Consulting at $2.3 billion. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) both pin this expectation on open standards--any book, anytime, anywhere, for anyone. Electronic books will succeed, we argue, in part because they provide communicative opportunities not available in traditional, static print media. But, they will also succeed because of developments in technology for blind readers which will benefit all readers regardless of ability or disability. As evidence we offer, among other points, Microsoft Corporation's licensing of technology developed to benefit blind people for use in Microsoft Reader and mainstream publishing applications. We demonstrate, further, that technology transfer from disability to mainstream use has solid historic precedent.
Sajka, Janina and George Kerscher. American Foundation for the Blind (2002). Design>Usability>Accessibility>Visual
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SVG Linearization and Accessibility
The usage of SVG creates new possibilities as well as new challenges for the accessibility of Web sites. This paper presents a metadata vocabulary to describe the information content of an SVG file geared towards accessibility. When used with a suitable tool, this metadata description can help in generating a textual ('linear') version of the content, which can be used for users with disabilities or with non-visual devices.
Herman, Ivan and Daniel Dardailler. SVG Open (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>SVG
