Web Accessibility for All: Our goal
We provide an array of resources--from online and downloadable tutorials designed to help you create accessible web content, to tools to help your organization build its capacity to maintain electronic accessibility. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding our site or the information contained here.
Video interview of Tim O'Connor and Bob Christiaanson
This 19 minute video talks to 2 leaders in accessibility at UW-Madison. They talk about accessibility in the classroom and their experiences with accessibility and the Web. View the Tim O'Connor and Bob Christiaanson video.
WebAIM has new resource to help organizations develop and implement Web accessibility
Does your organization have a Web accessibility policy but is experiencing challenges in developing a plan to achieve electronic accessibility? If the answer is "yes," be sure to visit WebAIM's new 8 Steps of Institutional Coordination and Reform pages. They offer a model organizations can use to evaluate Web pages, develop a planning team, gain support for a Web accessibility initiative, develop and implement a plan, train staff, and monitor the accessibility of Web pages over time.
Free accessibility checker
AccVerify 2005 and HiCaption 4.0 are now available for staff, faculty and students working at or attending all the University of Wisconsin campuses and Wisconsin Technical Colleges for free download. The software runs on the Windows operating system. To find out more about the HiSoftware purchase and suite of accessibility tools, go to the HiSoftware download page.
Accessibility News
WebAIM has a Web Accessibility Resource Planner (WARP).
Check out this news article titled Websites 'failing' disabled users.
Visit our Aquatic Arts Learn by Example Web site
Our
newest tool is our Aquatic
Arts Learn by Example Web site, which contains the most prevalent
problems that commonly inhibit access. The site contains examples of both
inaccessible and accessible pages, along with specific explanations of
the problems themselves.Key Features of the Project:
The Center on Education and Work (CEW) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), in collaboration with the university's McBurney Disability Resource Center, seeks to offer a solution to the challenge of insuring electronic accessibility for all. Since the use of Web-based media is quickly becoming a centerpiece of higher education nationwide, the issue of providing equitable access impacts not only the UW-Madison campus, but also the other 25 campuses within the UW system, the 16 Wisconsin Technical College districts, and ultimately post-secondary institutions across the nation. With this in mind the project takes an incremental approach to bridging the accessibility gap that now exists throughout the post-secondary educational system.
The three-year program will both meld and streamline faculty/staff outreach through professional development workshops and online tutorials, create user-friendly Web accessibility analysis, and provide technical assistance to those involved in creating and maintaining Web content. In year one the project will target the UW-Madison campus. By year two efforts will expand to include all forty-two of Wisconsin's state-sponsored colleges, universities, and technical schools. In its final year the project will expand again in scope to include a national audience of postsecondary institutions with an interest in enhancing electronic accessibility for all students.
How can we help you with Web accessibility?
If you are employed at any of the UW campuses that have chosen to participate in the purchase of HiSoftware products or at UW system, UW-Extension or if you are employed at any of Wisconsin's technical colleges(including the WTCS board), we can provide the following help:
- Help with capacity building and developing Web accessibility policies and procedures.
- A free analysis and report for your Website.
- A free Web Accessibility Resource CD with links to accessibility resources on the Web.
- Free consultation about Web accessibility within the scope of the project's objectives and resources.
- Free Web conferences on various accessibility topics.
Additionally, If you are employed at UW-Madison, we can provide the following help:
- A free accessibility training CD-ROM from Webaim.org [reproduced with permission].
- A free 70-page book, "IMS Guidelines for Developing Accessible Learning Applications" [reproduced with permission].
To request any of these services, please email Julie Husmoe at jhusmoe@education.wisc.edu.