March 1, 2002

Welcome to the first issue of a periodic electronic newsletter, ACCESS E and IT NEWS, of the Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center (ITTATC). The purpose of the ITTATC E-News is to promote accessible information technology (IT) and telecommunications by assisting those with an interest in news relating to the implementation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act.

In This Issue:

NEWS FROM WASHINGTON

1. General Services Administration (GSA) Releases Three New Web-Based Courses
2. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Public Notice for Telecommunications Industry
3. FCC Telecommunications Advisory Committee Meets March 15, 2002
4. Accessible Forms Software Review from the Veterans Administration (VA)

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & TRAINING

1. Product Accessibility Evaluation Web Cast Announced
2. National Cancer Institute Section 508 Website: A Valuable Resource
3. A Guide for Making Documents Accessible for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
4. A Searchable Website on Assistive Technology
5. State Initiatives

LOOKING AHEAD

 

NEWS FROM WASHINGTON

1. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (GSA)

GSA Releases Three Additional Web Based Courses on Section 508. The courses are available at no charge. The new courses are:

1. Accessible Conferences
2. Buying Accessible E&IT (Requiring Officials and Contracting Officers)
3. Section 508 Coordinators

For more information and to register, please access the following URL: http://159.142.162.122/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=5.

The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Information Bureau released a public notice on December 19, 2001. The Public Notice notified Telecommunications Manufacturers and Service Providers of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Collection of Point of Contact Public Information for Section 255 Covered Entities.

The FCC regulations implementing Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act include the requirement that telecommunications service providers and equipment manufacturers designate an agent for service of Section 255 inquiries and complaints. This requirement entails information collection requirements, subject to approval by OMB. The December 19 Public Notice announced the final approval by OMB of the contact information requirements, and established a deadline of January 31, 2002 for compliance. Telecommunications providers and equipment manufacturers who voluntarily furnished the information previously are not required to resubmit the information.

The FCC will continue to make the contact information available on its web site.

1. Contact information for manufacturers is posted at:
   http://www.fcc.gov/cib/dro/section255_manu.html.
2. Contact information for service providers is posted at:
   http://www.fcc.gov/cib/dro/service_providers.html.
3. Contact information for affected colleges and universities is posted at:
   http://www.fcc.gov/ib/dro/section255_colleges.html.
4. The Public Notice can be found in its entirety at:
   http://www.fccgov/cib/dro.

The Consumer/Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee (CDTAC) will hold its next meeting on March 15, 2002, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Federal Communications Commission's headquarters building, Room TW-C305, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554.

On November 30, 2000, the Federal Communications Commission announced the establishment of the CDTAC. Its purpose is to make recommendations to the Commission regarding consumer and disability issues within the jurisdiction of the Commission and to facilitate the participation of consumers (including people with disabilities and underserved populations) in proceedings before the Commission. The meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast on the Internet in Real Audio/Real Video format with captioning at www.fcc.gov/cib/cdtac. Minutes of the meeting will be posted on the FCC's website at: http://www.fcc.gov/cib/cdtac.

An Assistive Technology Expert at the Veterans Administration, who recently reviewed form software for accessibility, reports that "The range of forms software that is accessible under 508 is steadily increasing. In the past six months there have been demonstrations of Adobe, Accelio's Jet Forms, Informata, and many others. Each product has its strengths and weaknesses but each tries to capture the form and give the disabled individual the ability to fill out the form independently. After downloading a form filler program the disabled user should have keyboard access to all the elements of a form. The user should be able to hear the control such as edit box and the label tag associated with that box such as last name. In addition controls such as check boxes, radio buttons, and combo boxes should be announced along with their associated labels. If the MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility) protocol is followed than these controls will be accessible and the user will be able to tab from element to element fill out the form and submit it.

In researching which forms program to use, first determine what products are already in use within the company or agency. Centralizing the forms production and standardizing on a forms product has several advantages. It is much easier to maintain and update forms if one product is utilized. Licenses for creating accessible forms need to be purchased and these can vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. The need to centralize form production will pay off when it comes to training forms developers and updating older forms on the web.

Testing forms for Section 508 compliance will continue to be quite involved since there is no tool (unless html based) that will test and fix non-compliant forms. And then there is the usability issue -- forms like everything else can be compliant but not useable. That is, when utilizing the services of a disabled person familiar with access technology, the needs of the disabled will go a long way to insure that forms will be both compliant and useable."

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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & TRAINING

1. PRODUCT ACCESSIBILITY ASSESSMENT WEB CAST

ITTATC will host a free web cast on the topic of product accessibility evaluation from 1:00 to 3:00 EDT on March 14, 2002. Panelists will discuss alternative approaches to accessibility assessments to include:

1. Methodologies companies can use to conduct in-house evaluations
2. Working with an independent third party reviewer
3. Using the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template: What are the Pros and Cons of these alternatives? Which approach is best for your business?

This website--of the National Cancer Institute--contains general information on Section 508, tips for webmasters, along with a variety of additional resources. Training materials include tutorials on topics such as: Image Mapping, providing alternative text, scripting, Skipping Repetitive Navigation links, cascading menus, creating accessible data tables, using color, creating accessible multimedia, creating accessible forms, creating accessible PDF files, labeling frames, designing accessible timed responses, handling applets and plug-ins, creating accessible style sheets, and much more. The site also contains links for downloading trial copies of screen readers, instructions for testing the accessibility of a web site, and a checklist for Web managers to use as sites are being planned and built.

Visit the NCI Section 508 web page at: http://oc.nci.nih.gov/web508/index.html.

This comprehensive publication by the American Council of the Blind is a MUST for any business or agency planning to produce documents in alternate formats for people who are visually impaired. Whether you are producing product documentation, bills for blind customers, conference materials, or forms or tables, this publication will help you learn how to determine which formats to use for a variety of documents. The information includes which documents you can easily produce in-house, which documents to contract out; how to find and what to look for in a contractor; and how to design your documents for easy conversion to Braille, large print, audiotapes, or electronic files.

The guide is located at http://www.acb.org or by contacting the American Council of the Blind at: (202) 467-5081.

The primary mission of Assistivetech.net, a national public Internet site, is to provide increased access to information on assistive technology and disability-related resources. The site features four search tools and information links to a variety of disability-related resources. The project is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

Visit assistivetech.net at: http://www.assistivetech.net/.

1. ITTATC State Information Technology Needs Assessment Survey The State Information Technology (IT) Needs Assessment Survey is a tool which is being used to identify the needs assessment of states in terms of their IT accessibility initiatives. The survey initiative is being cosponsored under the auspices of ITTATC in collaboration with the RESNA TA Project, http://www.resna.org/taproject/index.html, and the Association of Tech Act Projects (ATAP), http://www.ataporg.org/. These entities have subcontracted with the New York State Office of Technology, which is the Office of the Chief Information Officer in the state of New York and the entity that is actually administering the survey. The ultimate purpose of the survey is to get a sense of what states are doing in terms of IT accessibility, to provide a framework and a baseline of what is going on, to look at what kinds of laws and policies have been passed or are being examined, and to look at what kind of technical assistance and training initiatives are currently underway. It is also being used to identify barriers and specifically from the states' perspective, what their needs are.
   
   The targeted survey respondents are the State Assistive Technology Projects, the Chief Information Office, and the State Procurement Offices in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The preliminary findings from the State IT Needs Assessment Survey will be available on the ITTATC website later this month.
   
   
   
2. State Information Technology Accessibility Initiatives Web Cast: In case you missed it, on December 4, 2001, ITTATC, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society Technical Assistance (RESNA TA) Project, http://www.resna.org/taproject/index.html, and the Mid-Atlantic Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, http://www.adainfo.org, presented a half-day Web Cast on "State Information Technology Accessibility Initiatives," with both a live and electronic audience. The Web Cast included three panels focused on information technology accessibility initiatives at the state level:
   
   1. Survey of State IT Initiatives: Preliminary Results.
   2. Preliminary results from the Information Technology Technical Assistance & Training Center State IT Needs Assessment Survey on current state IT accessibility initiatives and needs.
   3. IT Procurement and Accessibility Challenges at a State Level. Panelists share activities being done relative to IT accessibility at the state level. The discussion focused on the accomplishments and challenges of creating a culture of IT accessibility at the state level.
   4. IT Accessibility in the Workforce and Education Environment. The workforce area addresses the adult population and focus on the Workforce Investment System and One-Stops. The education area includes information on IT accessibility in the community college and university levels, and K-12.
   
   The web cast will be archived for one year on the TV Worldwide website, the producers of the ITTATC web cast at http://www.tvworldwide.com/. To access the archive, logon to the URL and scroll down the right hand side of the TV Worldwide home page to "Archived Programming." The December 4th web cast, along with other ITTATC web casts, are located in this section.

 

LOOKING AHEAD

Events of Interest in the Coming Months

1. Product Accessibility Assessment Web Cast, March 14, 2002. Self-assessments, third party testing, implementing the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template: Choosing the best approach for you. For more information: http://www.ittatc.org/.
   
   
2. CSUN's 17th Annual International Conference: Technology and Persons with Disabilities, March 18 - 23, 2002. Registration and conference information updates at: http://www.csun.edu/cod/.
   
   
3. Barrier-free E-learning: March 03, 2002- March 30, 2002. A one-month course, to be taught by Professor Norman Coombs, on accessible distance learning. For Additional Information Contact: nrcgsh@rit.edu, Website: http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm.
   
   
4. FOSE 2002, March 19, 2002 -- March 23, 2002. For Additional Information Contact: bhowell@postnewsweektech.com, Website: http://www.fose.com/.
   
   
5. 1st Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT), March 25, 2002 -- March 27, 2002. Design for Universal Access. The first of a series of workshops, to be held every two years, featuring leading researchers in the fields of Universal Access and Assistive Technology. For Additional Information Contact: cwuaat-enquiries@eng.cam.ac.uk, Website: http://rehab-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/cwuaat,
   
   
6. WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind), April 01, 2002 -- May 03, 2002. National Web Accessibility Training Event. For More Information: http://www.webaim.org/webtraining
   
   
7. Barrier-free Information Technology, April 01, 2002 -- April 30, 2002 Four-week online workshop taught by Joseph J. Lazzaro, Richard Banks and Norman Coombs, providing an overview to the topic of adaptive computing technology. For Additional Information Contact: dick@easi.cc, Website: http://easi.cc/workshops/adapitit.htm
   
   
8. Accessible Internet Multimedia Production, April 01, 2002 -- April 30, 2002. Making multi-media accessible for people with disabilities. For Additional Information Contact: dick@easi.cc, Website: http://easi.cc/workshops/mmedia.htm
   
   
9. Learning Disabilities and Information Technology, April 01, 2002 -- April 30, 2002. For Additional Information Contact: dick@easi.cc, Website: http://easi.cc/workshops/ld.htm
   
   
10. Assets 2002, The Fifth International ACM SIGCAPH Conference on Assistive Technologies, July 08 through July 10, 2002, Edinburgh, Scotland. For Additional Information Contact: Ann Smith (507) 457-1430. Details on the SIGCAPH Website: http://www.acm.org/sigcaph/assets02/
    
    
11. ICCHP '02 8th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs, July 15 through July 20, 2002, University of Linz, Linz, Austria. For Additional Information Contact: Dr. Klaus Miesenberger + 43 732 2468-9853. Website: http://www.aib.uni-linz.ac.at/icchp/index.html