Accessibility in the News—11/23/18.

In the government and education sectors, buying information and communications technology that is accessible from the get-go can be a challenge, and that includes buying accessible course materials. So what do you do when the tool you want to use, or have already purchased, is inaccessible? Kelly Hermann from the University of Phoenix walks readers though the process in a guest post on WCET Frontiers.

But while accessibility in procurement addresses looks at equal access within a very large group setting with organizational budgets, accessible homes touch people on a very personal level. In the Washington Post, two authors report on and give perspective on how the affordable housing crisis is affecting people with mobility disabilities.

In news, gaming has several stories, with some moves forward (improved video game accessibility for the blind) and some, not so much (a recent game release lacked captions for the deaf and hard-of-hearing gaming community, and didn’t give a very satisfactory response to inquiries about it).

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National News (U.S.)

Accessibility and Procurement: What do we need to know?

November 14, 2018 | Source: WCET Frontiers | Digital Accessibility, Awareness, Inclusion

It often feels like there are many more questions about accessibility than there are answers. This is especially true when it comes to deciding which content, tools and/or products we are going to bring to campus and use in our courses. Cyndi Rowland wrote a great piece about “The Role of Procurement in Digital Accessibility” right before the WCET annual meeting. Since we are about to gather together in Orlando for OLC’s Accelerate conference where we will have a featured session on this topic…

Microassist Note: If accessible procurement in education is a hot topic for you, you may also want to read our articles, “The Training Manager’s Guide to Accessible Elearning,” “Introducing VPAT^® 2.0, the More Stringent Accessibility Reporting Tool Required for Government IT Procurement,” “How Accessible Should My Digital Content Be? Understanding WCAG Conformance Levels,” or our page on “VPAT Audit and Authoring Services.”

Florida attractions, accommodations striving for greater accessibility

November 14, 2018 | Source: Travel Weekly | Inclusion, Travel, Accessible Design

Over the past several months, I’ve received close to a dozen press releases about attractions, accommodations and events around the Sunshine State that are making changes to their offerings or programming to make travel easier and more accessible for guests with disabilities. For example, Legoland offers a “Blue Hero” pass to allow no-wait access to attractions and rides for families with autistic children. Saturdays at the Miami Children’s Museum are now sensory-friendly, and the Orlando Repertory Theatre adjusts several of its shows each season to a sensory-friendly environment…

Historic Old Town Building Would Look ‘Horrible’ With Accessible Garage For Teen In Wheelchair, Neighbors Say

November 15, 2018 | Source: Block Club Chicago | Mobility, Discrimination, Disability Rights

One family’s push to add a garage to their historic home — a garage they say they need for their daughter who uses a wheelchair — is being opposed by a group that aims to preserve Old Town’s historic charm. Homeowners Bill Deakin and Lisa Diehlmann own a house in the 1800 block of North Lincoln Avenue in the Old Town Triangle, a historic area where some homes pre-date the Great Chicago Fire. Their move to renovate the property has sparked a zoning dispute in the neighborhood, pitting neighbor against neighbor…

Accessibility and affordability must go hand in hand

November 15, 2018 | Source: Washington Post | Mobility, Disability Rights, Inclusion

Tamara Maze Gallman is the executive director and founder of Disability Partnerships. Her mobility has been impaired since her traumatic injury in a natural gas explosion. Mary Schor is the volunteer assistant to the executive director of Disability Partnerships. Her mobility has been impaired since an injury 15 years ago that led her to develop reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. On Nov. 6, voters in eight states — Maryland was not among them — voted on ballot measures with the potential to address the impact of one of the most pressing issues in our country today: the affordable housing crisis…

SC county working to make voting easier for the disabled after federal review

November 16, 2018 | Source: Charleston Post Courier & Fox News | Voting, Mobility, Government

Round door knobs, sloped parking spots and inadequate handicapped parking signs are among voter-accessibility problems being fixed in Anderson County following a review by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, officials said Friday. The county’s elections board signed a settlement this month pledging to ensure all of its polling precincts meet federal requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon announced. Why government authorities chose to review Anderson County precincts is unknown…

500,000 Teens With ASD Are Headed To Adulthood. Where Will They Work?

November 16, 2018 | Source: Disability Scoop | Businesses, Cognitive, Inclusion

When Olivia Shanks landed in the hospital, it changed her life. She didn’t arrive as a patient, though — she came to work. The 21-year-old, who has high-functioning autism, has struggled to get places on time. Some basic workplace tasks stressed her out. Dependence on others dinged her self-confidence. Her work in Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital’s food-services department came via one of Houston’s nonprofit groups providing job training and support for a population that’s exploding but finds few opportunities to live as fully as possible…

Degrees of Freedom

November 17, 2018 | Source: The New Yorker | Mobility, Disability Rights, Awareness

For eighteen years, Jan Scheuermann has been paralyzed from the neck down. She is six feet tall, and she spends all day and all night in a sophisticated, battery-powered wheelchair that cradles her—half sitting, half reclining—from head to toe. In effect, the chair has become an extension of her body. To navigate the world in it, Scheuermann manipulates a cork-tipped joystick with her chin. She can move in this way with remarkable agility, but her height, combined with the bulk of the chair and the unrelenting nature of gravity and matter, can limit her…

These Technologies Are Improving Video-Game Accessibility For The Blind

November 18, 2018 | Source: Quartzy | Gaming, Blindness/Visual Impairment, Innovation

Visuals are a core part of video-game design. They can enhance gameplay and make a narrative more immersive—or, done poorly, ruin an experience altogether. Either way, visually impaired players don’t have access to them. In recent years, companies and researchers have increasingly tried to address that issue. Among them is EA Sports, which makes popular games like Madden NFL and Need For Speed. In the former, players now have the option to add different sounds to different plays, helping blind players better understand what’s going on…

Harvard Report: Nation Needs to Prioritize Housing for Seniors

November 19, 2018 | Source: Apartment Finance Today | Housing, Aging, Accessible Design

Affordable and accessible housing with connections to health care for older households is an immediate challenge, according to a new report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS). Housing America’s Older Adults 2018, a supplement to the JCHS’ annual The State of the Nation’s Housing Report, warns that serious issues are ahead as over half of U.S. households are headed by someone 50 or older and the number of households in the 80 and older age group is expected to more than double by 2037…

Activision ignores accessibility guidelines, skips Spyro subtitles

November 19, 2018 | Source: Ars Technica & TechRadar & VG247 & Gamasutra &Eurogamer | Deaf/Hearing Impaired, Discrimination, Awareness

Last week’s release of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy disappointed many, including deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers, by not including subtitles in the games’ many spoken cut scenes. Now, Activision’s justification for that decision is angering many for seeming insensitivity to the needs of the community. An Activision spokesperson gave the following statement to British site GamePitt when asked about the issue (the company was not immediately available to respond to a request for comment from Ars Technica)…

Complaints Against a Virginia Accessibility Equipment Company Continue Coming In

November 20, 2018 | Source: NBC4 Washington | Mobility, Business, Discrimination

Dozens of people say a businessman took thousands of dollars from people seeking medical equipment like stairlifts and wheelchair ramps but never delivered them. NBC4 Responds first reported on Access Mobility in 2017. Customers reporting missed deadlines got their money back, but complaints against owner Jim Clore have continued. Kathy Symborski said she hired Clore to install a ramp for her 97-year-old father. “He asked for $2,500 upfront,” she said. She said after she paid him in April, she never saw him again…

Open letter prompts administration to hold accessibility forum

November 20, 2018 | Source: The Justice | Higher Education, Accessible Design, Awareness

In response to an open letter sent to University President Ron Liebowitz two weeks ago, Brandeis will hold an open forum to discuss accessibility on campus. The announcement, made by Liebowitz at Sunday’s Union Senate meeting, marks a success for the group that wrote the letter, Addressing Accessibility at Brandeis. Jack Rubinstein ’20, representing AAB, sent the open letter to Liebowitz in a Nov. 8 email, along with a document of personal accounts from Brandeis students with disabilities sharing their experiences on campus…

Education Department’s civil rights office retreats, will consider claims filed en masse

November 20, 2018 | Source: Washington Post & The 74 & ABC11& SFGate & Education Week | Education, OCR, Lawsuits/Litigation

Facing a lawsuit, the Education Department said Tuesday it would no longer dismiss civil rights complaints simply because the filer had submitted other, similar claims, reversing a policy that had led to the dismissal of hundreds of cases en masse. In March, the department’s Office for Civil Rights updated its Case Processing Manual and said it would dismiss a complaint if it was part of a pattern of allegations, or if the complaint placed an “unreasonable burden” on the office…

University of Florida Works to Ensure Websites are Accessible

November 20, 2018 | Source: Government Technology | Digital Accessibility, Higher Education, Inclusion

An online course doesn’t provide proper captioning during a video lecture. A department website features flashing and moving elements than cannot be easily turned off. A downloaded scholarship document is unable to be filled out with a hands-free, assisted computer device. All three are examples of failing to comply with web accessibility, defined as the practice of making sure there are no barriers to prevent interaction with or access to websites for people with disabilities…

The latest abuse of the Americans with Disabilities Act

November 20, 2018 | Source: San Bernardino County Sun | ADA, Discrimination, Mobility

Yes, it is also abused. But since it was signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has opened up a vast new world to people who use wheelchairs or are otherwise differently abled. That world is the world others take for granted: the upstairs, the downstairs, the public bathrooms. Now, in retrospect, putting up handrails and laying down ramps in that physical world, while often costly, was relatively easy for businesses and property owners to understand how to do…

UMD iSchool Trace Center to Tackle Accessibility Challenges of Tech Interfaces for People with Disabilities

November 20, 2018 | Source: UMD iSchool – University of Maryland | Inclusion, Higher Education, Innovation

The UMD iSchool’s Trace Research & Development Center is the recipient of a $4.9 million, five-year Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), part of the Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The RERC will fund leading-edge research and development related to inclusive information and communication technology (ICT)…

Uber expanding third-party use for wheelchair accessibility

November 20, 2018 | Source: amNY & TechCrunch & CNET & Washington Post & Smart Cities Dive & CBS | Mobility, Transportation, Inclusion

Uber will be expanding its use of third-party drivers across the country in an effort to provide better wheelchair-accessible service. Faced with few drivers with wheelchair-accessible vehicles, or WAV, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced Tuesday that the company will expand its partnership with MV Transportation to fill gaps in its WAV service in cities around the country, bringing “hundreds” of new WAV vehicles under Uber’s dispatching, he said…

Why Your Website Has to Be Just as ADA Compliant as Your Office Building

November 20, 2018 | Source: CMS Critic | ADA, Digital Accessibility, Inclusion

Picture this: you’re online, wanting to order groceries from Amazon Fresh for convenience. You select a delivery time on the app with ease, scheduling the groceries to arrive at your door moments after you get home from work. The experience is simple, streamlined and efficient. But that exact experience was frustrating for one blind Seattle user. For a period of time, the Amazon Fresh app had a bug for users with vision loss. They couldn’t select a deliver time if they were using a screen reader — technology on which nearly all visually-impaired users rely…

Lawsuits claim Muhlenberg, ESU websites lack access for the blind

November 21, 2018 | Source: Allentown Morning Call | Lawsuits/Litigation, Blindness/Visual Impairment, Discrimination

Poorly designed websites can be more than frustrating, they can break the law, a legally blind New York man claims in lawsuits against Muhlenberg College, East Stroudsburg University and about 40 other schools in the mid-Atlantic. Lawsuits filed in federal court in Manhattan last week on behalf of Jason Camacho claim the institutions’ websites do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act because they’re not properly designed for the visually impaired to use…

Arizona’s long road to make elections accessible

November 21, 2018 | Source: High Country News | Voting, Discrimination, Accessible Design

It took nearly a week after Election Day for the Senate race in Arizona between Martha McSally, R, and Kyrsten Sinema, D, to finally be called. Sinema emerged the winner, narrowing the Republicans’ hold on the Senate. The close call highlighted the importance of voters getting to the polls: On Nov. 20, the margin was a slim 1.7 percent, or 38,197 votes. But reporters at two polls in Coconino County, Arizona, documented at least 30 voters who had difficulty figuring out where to vote on Election Day; the county had moved their polling places four months prior to the midterms…

MAA must pay $8.7 million to fix Post apartments that are not accessible to persons with disabilities

November 21, 2018 | Source: HousingWire | Housing, Discrimination, Government

One of the nation’s largest apartment owners must nearly $9 million to ensure that three dozen of its apartment complexes are accessible to persons with disabilities as part of an $11.3 million settlement with the federal government. The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it reached an $11.3 million settlement with MAA, which owns more than 101,000 apartment units in 17 states, over properties MAA acquired when it merged with Post Properties in 2016…

This is what happens when an accessible cruise is not!

November 21, 2018 | Source: Elliott Advocacy | Mobility, Travel, Discrimination

What would you do if you required and booked a wheelchair accessible cruise but once onboard, found out it wasn’t? That is the terrible dilemma in which Russell Lash recently found himself. This story is troubling on many levels. And it points to a problem in the cruise industry. A cruise that can’t deliver all passengers to all ports of call should not be permitted to call itself an accessible cruise. But Lash’s’ cruise did just that, and he feels misled. Can the Elliott Advocacy team help?…

Schools, colleges targeted for websites’ alleged inaccessibility to the blind

November 22, 2018 | Source: Worcester Telegram | Digital Accessibility, Blindness/Visual Impairment, Higher Education

The College of the Holy Cross became the latest local educational institution to be targeted for allegedly failing to make its website accessible to handicapped users last week when a New York man sued the school in federal court. Brooklyn resident Jason Camacho, who filed his complaint in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of New York last Thursday, accuses Holy Cross of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to maintain a website that can be used fully by blind people like him…

Jack Fact — According to estimates by the World Health Organization, more than 217 million people live with moderate to severe vision impairment and another 36 million people worldwide have complete vision loss.

Hit The Road Jack — 4 of the Best Wheelchair-Accessible Trails in U.S. National Parks

International News

Accessibility debate heats up on Toronto restaurant’s Instagram page

November 15, 2018 | Source: CityNews & 680 News- Canada | Food Service, Mobility, Discrimination

Chris Stigus thought he was asking a simple question when he posted on a Toronto restaurant’s Instagram page, writing “Are you guys wheelchair accessible?” The restaurant, Sugo Toronto, responded saying “not really no, we’ve had a couple chairs in but we have a step and it’s a very small place.” Stigus didn’t expect what happened next. “That started an avalanche of Instagram comments,” Stigus said. “People were saying that the restaurant has a duty to accommodate people in wheelchairs, they were upset about the responses given by the store owner…

Don’t lose sight of the need for transit accessibility, say advocates

November 15, 2018 | Source: Toronto Star- Canada | Advocacy, Transit/Transportation, Mobility

As Metro Vancouver mayors have shifted toward a new plan for a SkyTrain linking Surrey and Langley, some advocates are concerned that the issue of accessibility may be lost in the shuffle. Brad Cavanagh, a resident of New Westminster and a member of the advocacy group Abundant Transit BC, spoke at the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation meeting on Thursday about the need for more accessible bus stops. “Across Metro Vancouver, only three-quarters of bus stops are wheelchair accessible,” Cavanagh told the council. “This is unacceptable.”…

Transit, accessibility at top of Sudbury seniors’ concerns

November 15, 2018 | Source: CBC- Canada | Transit/Transportation, Aging, Government

The federal Minister of Seniors visited Sudbury yesterday to learn more about how the government can support the city’s aging population. Filomena Tassi visited the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre and the Parkside Older Adult Centre, speaking with seniors about their experiences receiving services. Tassi told CBC News that as she tours the country, she’s hearing some common concerns, especially related to income security, affordable housing, and healthcare. She added that she’s hearing specific issues emerge as she visits northern Ontario…

Matthew Pierri, A Founding Member Of The Oxford Accessibility Project, Rhodes Scholar, Lawyer, And Activist

November 16, 2018 | Source: Oxford Student- England | Advocacy, Mobility, Awareness

Matt Pierri, from Melbourne, Australia, where his family still resides, moved to Lincoln College, Oxford in September 2016, as a Rhodes Scholar to do two one-year masters. He did a Master’s in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School and then completed a MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute. Whilst in Australia, Matt completed his undergraduate degree in Journalism, followed by a graduate Law Degree. At age 16 in 2007 he sustained a spinal cord injury and since then he has been interested for personal reasons in disability issues…

10 cities that are championing accessibility for venues and events

November 16, 2018 | Source: CIT Magazine- UK | Accessible Design, Entertainment, Tourism

A joint report from BestCities Global Alliance, GainingEdge and Rehabilitation International has showcased destinations that are meeting the needs of delegates with disabilities. The cities highlighted in the Universal Accessibility in Meetings report have innovated and adapted in order to meet the needs of people with disabilities, in both tourism and meetings and events. Here are the cities picked out by the report as excellent examples of accessible destinations…

Accessibility concerns at Calgary’s new Central Library will be fixed, says CEO

November 16, 2018 | Source: CBC- Canada | Building Accessibility, Inclusion, Accessible Design

The Calgary Public Library’s CEO says improvements are under way to make the new Central Library more accessible. Bill Ptacek says it’s important to make changes quickly as people use the space and notice problems, but says there are some issues that can’t be fixed, like the sloped sidewalk on the west side of the building, designed to accommodate the C-Train tunnel. “All these things are important for us to respond to, and respond to quickly. Because again, the true test of the building is when people come in and use it…

Meet the pioneers who are helping the disabled watch movies, get jobs

November 17, 2018 | Source: ThePrint- India | Blindness/Visual Impairment, Entertainment, Innovation

A YouTube channel bringing entertainment and awareness for the deaf [Blee TV]. An app that lets the blind experience a movie [XL Cinema]. A firm dedicated to technology that can grant the visually impaired equal access to a confident life [Eye-D]. A café chain run by the differently-abled [Mitti Café]. These are some of the winners honoured Friday at the fifth edition of the Nipman Foundation’s Microsoft Equal Opportunity Awards, an initiative aimed at recognising private players working to bolster employment for the disabled and ensuring them equal accessibility…

Remapping accessibility around the world

November 18 2018 | Source: Global National- Canada (Video) | Mobility, Inclusion, Advocacy

Maayan Ziv was born with muscular dystrophy and has used a wheelchair since she was a child. She’s had to come up with creative solutions to get around on the busy streets of Toronto. That led to developing an app that’s remapping accessibility around the world. Robin Gill reports…

Closing the accessibility gap, 1 ramp at a time

November 20, 2018 | Source: CBC- Canada | Accessible Design, Awareness, Inclusion

Wielding hammers and paint brushes, volunteers gathered at Makerspace North one recent evening to take part in Stopgap Ottawa’s fourth community ramp build. Their goal: to make 10 local businesses more accessible to customers who use wheelchairs. “It’s a really weird feeling, not being able to enter a place that everybody else can enter,” said Chris Binkowski, co-founder of Stopgap Ottawa. Often, the only obstacle standing in the way is a single step, easily overcome with a small, portable ramp…

Fact check: Has accessibility for PwDs improved in the last four years?

November 21, 2018 | Source: Newslaundry- India | Awareness, Government, Accessible Design

Making claims about accessibility in India, the government has published an infographic on the 48 months website. The information provided makes claims about the interventions and achievements in terms of making India more accessible for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Here is a fact check of the four claims made in the following infographic. The Prime Minister launched the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) in December 2015 to create universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the Built Environment, Transport, and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) ecosystem…

Legally Blind Gamer Can Finally Play Pokémon Go After Years of Accessibility Issues

November 21, 2018 | Source: DualShockers- Finland | Gaming, Blindness/Visual Impairment, Innovation

I can only imagine how difficult it would be to not have the chance to play a game due to accessibility issues within the actual game. Unfortunately, that has been a real issue of late when developer Toys for Bob and publisher Activision came under fire due to the lack of subtitles in their latest title Spyro for PS4. Thankfully this time, we have a more positive story to report and how Pokémon: Let’s Go gave a legally blind gamer the chance to play their favorite game again…

Buckingham venues more accessible thanks to new website

November 21, 2018 | Source: Mix 96- UK | Awareness, Entertainment, Accessible Design

Three years ago, Buckingham Town Council paid DisabledGo to carry out and published detailed accessibility surveys of 65 venues in Buckingham. The Town Council have commissioned the renamed AccessAble to update the surveys each year and to add 5 more each year. In addition, Buckingham’s Access Awareness Group will continue to support the scheme. Volunteers will be trained to carry out and submit additional surveys at a workshop to be arranged in 2019…

Time for real action on universal accessibility

November 21, 2018 | Source: The Suburban Newspaper- Canada | Universal Accessibility, Accessible Design, Awareness

From October 15th through November 30th, Montreal is holding public consultations on the preliminary version of its Action Plan for Universal Accessibility 2019-2020. We welcome the city’s willingness to listen and find ways to act to improve accessibility. Objectives for making municipal services accessible are certainly commendable. However, the Action Plan remains far too vague when it comes to how businesses and new constructions are to be made accessible…

Rollout of RHFAC continues cross-Canada

November 21, 2018 | Source: REMI Network – Real Estate Management Industry Network- Canada | Mobility, Accessible Design, Advocacy

One of Canada’s most iconic buildings is one of the earliest adopters of Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC). That’s fitting since Hansen was likewise a trailblazer at the CN Tower as the first wheelchair user to navigate the exhilarating EdgeWalk attraction, in sync with the Tower’s partnership with the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto. “That’s when we launched our accessible EdgeWalk and he was able to give our staff direct feedback,” recalls Patrick Leavey, manager of marketing and communications at the CN Tower…

Over half of Oxford libraries lack full step-free access

November 21, 2018 | Source: Cherwell Online- England | Accessible Design, Discrimination, Higher Education

Only 40.8% of Oxford’s libraries have full step-free access, according to an Oxford SU report released today. The report, produced on behalf of Oxford SU’s official disability campaign – the Oxford Students Disability Community (OSDC) – also dentifies a lack of accessible toilets, automatic doors, and visual aids in libraries. Only 21% of college libraries have accessible toilets. The number of fully step-free libraries drops to 9.2% for college libraries, a situation described by the SU as: “…detrimental not only to academic success but also to student welfare.”…

Maintaining accessibility through the EU Accessibility Directive

November 22, 2018 | Source: Open Access Government- UK | Digital Accessibility, Awareness, Blindness/Visual Impairment

Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC), is a not-for-profit organisation which tests digital products such as software applications, websites, native apps etc., to ensure compliance with web standards. They also provide training and bespoke e-learning modules covering digital accessibility. They employ testing teams comprised of users with various access requirements, such as users who are blind, who have dyslexia, low vision and limited mobility to name a few…

Father‘s blindness leads to son‘s vision for eye disease cure

November 22, 2018 | Source: Hawthorn Caller- New Zealand | Blindness/Visual Impairment, Innovation, Parenting

A University of Auckland bio engineer has received $1 million in funding to follow his dream of curing the disease that left his father blind for 60 years. Dr Ehsan Vaghefi received the funding from the 2018 round of the Endeavour Fund, New Zealand‘s largest contestable research fund, for a laser-based imaging device called MyIScope that will be capable of screening for early signs of blindness. MyIScope was designed to detect eye diseases such as cataracts, pathological myopia and glaucoma in children…

Four have sense of vision restored thanks to bionic eye

November 22, 2018 | Source: Medical Plastic News- New Zealand

Researchers said they were “very pleased” with the progress of all four patients who have had a “sense of sight” restored. All four have a degenerative genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa which causes loss of vision, and affects about one in every 4,000 people, affecting 1.5 million people worldwide. It is the leading cause of inherited blindness and there is currently no cure. Principal investigator associate professor Penny Allen made the announcement to the annual Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists Scientific meeting in Adelaide…

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Microassist Digital Accessibility Services

Have you received an accessibility demand letter because of your website or application? Please contact us for any questions you have about our accessibility services and how we might support your organization.

Services include:

Accessible Website and Application Development — We rely heavily on accessibility best practices and using HTML5 and ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) standards to build WCAG-compliant and human-tested accessible environments. Our teams are proficient in open source technologies such as WordPress, Drupal and Moodle, as well as custom frameworks in .NET, PHP, AngularJS, and other frameworks. Our Learning and Development team can also help you create accessible custom training.
Accessible Document Services — Whether you’re dealing with a few or a warehouse of Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, or other files, there are several ways Microassist can enable your team to offer documents and materials that meet stringent accessibility standards.
Accessibility Remediation — Our accessibility remediation services help you fix existing materials so that they conform to WCAG, Section 504 and 508, Department of Education OCR, and ADA Title II/III requirements. We remediate websites, applications, documents, and elearning, recommending re-creation when that is more efficient and economical. Especially for website and applications, to find out what is in need of remediation, we’ll start with an Accessibility Audit.
Accessibility Training — With several courses available for developers, testers, and content creators, your team can become equipped to consistently and expertly produce accessible digital products and online environments.
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Learn More about Digital Accessibility

Our Digital Accessibility Digest blog covers our Accessibility in the News archives as well as expert commentaries on digital accessibility issues.

Our most-read commentaries include:

The WCAG 2.1 Update: A Brief Look at What’s Changed
Introducing VPAT^® 2.0, the More Stringent Accessibility Reporting Tool Required for Government IT Procurement
Accessibility in the News, Legal Edition: Updates on ADA Title III News and More
What Lawyers Need to Know: A Primer on Digital Accessibility Terms and Today’s Legal Landscape
Mobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 1 of 2
Mobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 2 of 2

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