November 12-16, 2018, The Westin Westminster, Colorado
In collaboration with AHEAD & ATHEN
9 am – 5 pm Registration Desk Open
9 am – Noon AM Coffee Break
10:30 am – 1 pm Preconference Sessions
1 – 2:30 pm Lunch (on your own)
2:30 – 5 pm Preconference Sessions
3:30 – 4 pm PM Coffee break
8 am – 4:30 pm Registration Desk Open
10:30 – 11 am AM Coffee Break
9 am – Noon Preconference Sessions
Noon – 1:30 pm Lunch (on your own)
1:30 – 4:30 pm Preconference Sessions
3 – 3:30 pm PM Coffee Break
7 am – 4:30 pm Registration Desk Open
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9 am – 6:30 pm Exhibit Hall Open
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 – 11:15 am Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
11:15 am – 12:15 pm Breakout Sessions
12:20 - 2 pm Lunch (on your own)
2:15 – 3:15 pm Breakout Sessions
3 – 3:30 pm PM refreshment break
3:30 – 4:30 pm Breakout Sessions
4:30 – 6:30 pm Exhibit Hall Reception
6:30 – 8:30 pm ATHEN Annual Meeting
7 am – 5 pm Registration Desk Open
9 am – 5 pm Exhibit Hall Open
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 – 11:15 am Roundtable Discussions
11:15 am – 12:15 pm Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
12:20 – 2 pm Lunch (on your own)
2:15 – 3:15 pm Breakout Sessions
3:15 – 4 pm Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
4 – 5 pm Breakout Sessions
7 – 8:30 pm Keynote Banquet featuring Britney Wilson
7:30 am – 1 pm Registration Desk Open
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 – 10:30 am Refreshment Break
10:30 – 11:30 am Breakout Sessions
11:45 am – 12:45 pm Breakout Sessions
Find conference evaluation forms at accessinghigherground.org/evaluate
#AHG18
Special Sessions, Receptions, & Meetings
Preconference Sessions
Monday
Tuesday
Breakout Sessions
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Exhibitor Presentation Schedule
Exhibit Hall Map
Exhibitor Directory
3Play Media
Accessibility Oz
Equidox by Onix
Microsoft
Perkins School for the Blind
Sonocent
Adobe
QA Info Tech
Ai Media
Enhanced Vision, Freedom Scientific, Optelec, The Paciello Group
Accessibility Oz
Blackboard
Texthelp
The inclusion of third party advertisements, samples, displays, sponsorships and/or exhibits does not constitute an endorsement, guarantee, warranty, or recommendation by AHEAD and we make no representations or warranties about any product or service contained therein.
Tuesday, November 13, 9 am - 4:30 pm
Cotton Creek I
AccessComputing, in collaboration with Accessing Higher Ground and Promoting the Integration of Universal Design into University Curricula (UDUC), will host Teaching about Accessibility in Computing and IT Courses: A Capacity-building Institute to provide techniques and strategies for teaching about accessibility in Computer Science and IT curriculum. The Institute can be attended in person or virtually.
Tuesday, November 13, 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
Please join Adam Spencer from Accessibil-IT Inc. for a kick-off event at AHG 2018 to discuss document accessibility and share some complimentary cocktails. All welcome and looking forward to meeting with old friends and new colleagues.
Wednesday - Friday, 7:15 - 7:45 am
Library (between fireplace and Kachina Grill)
A special early morning series presented by Scott Marshall, Associate Director for Instructional Technology and Accessibility, University of Minnesota. If our work is to be beyond compliance and sustainable, we need to be intentional about the connections we create. Our connections to our purposes for this work and our connections to each other are critical. Using poetry, we will gather to create and strengthen those connections.
In this main conference track, offered Wednesday – Friday, representatives from the publishing industry, early adopters from DSS offices and representatives from the Standards community will talk about how educational materials has been transformed and accessibility improved by the advent of the EPUB standard and the development of EPUB educational materials. The benefits offered and the challenges still faced by those seeking to adopt EPUB will be discussed with input and questions encouraged from the AHG audience. These sessions are labeled “EPUB Track” in the schedule.
This series of sessions, offered throughout the main conference (Wednesday - Friday), will focus on topics related to the teaching and application of accessibility and Universal Design in university curriculum. These sessions are labeled “UDUC Track” in the schedule.
Wednesday, November 14, 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
Join us in the Exhibit Hall for hors d’oeuvres & refreshments (Cash Bar)
Wednesday, November 14, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Westminster Ballroom IV
Stop by the ATHEN Annual Meeting (WB IV) to learn about the Access Technology Higher Education Network and its resources.
Thursday, November 15, 7 - 8:30 pm
Westminster Ballroom I/II/III
“...and People With Disabilities”
Britney Wilson, Staff Attorney/Dodyk Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Ms. Wilson will discuss how disability intersects with race, gender, and several of the political issues of the day as well as the need for social justice advocates to recognize and fully incorporate disability and disability rights into their work.
9 am - 5 pm Registration Open, Fountain Greens Foyer
9 am - Noon AM Coffee Break, Standley Foyer
10:30 am - 5 pm Preconference Sessions
1 - 2:30 pm Lunch (on your own)
3:30 - 4 pm PM Coffee Break, Standley Foyer
Complete session details can be found at accessinghigherground.org
Eric Eggert, Knowbility
Robert Jolly, Knowbility
Becky Gibson, Knowbility
The big picture overview for any stage of implementing an accessibility program across an organization. Starting with the institutional evaluation and providing tools and methodology for each stage, our team will take you through what you need to put in place a process to ensure that you reach and maintain your accessibility goals.
Westminster Ballroom I
Bevi Chagnon, PubCom—Publishing Communications
Hands-on workshop that teaches how to construct INDD files that export “graciously” to accessible PDFs with minimal remediation afterwards. We expect new InDesign features in the fall, so this workshop will incorporate them into a doable design workflow.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Terrill Thompson, University of Washington
In this hands-on workshop, participants will develop a complete understanding of how to make video fully accessible. They will add captions, audio description, chapters, and interactive features to a video using Able Player.
Standley II Lab
Scott Marshall, University of Minnesota
Leaders are made, not born. The future of our field is worthy of our best efforts to practice our leadership. We can shape our field in powerful ways: Do we see problems or possibilities? Want compliance or commitment? Rely on leadership or citizenship? We seek answers by first looking inward at ourselves, then outward toward our communities.
Cotton Creek I
Dawn Hunziker, University of Arizona
Rob Eveleigh, Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges
Nate Evans, Michigan State University
This dynamic, interactive workshop is presented by ATHEN members. It includes foundational legal information, an analysis of federal agreements, and best practice approaches towards the goal of working through institutional challenges to create a strategic, and comprehensive approach for creating an accessible EIT environment.
Westminster Ballroom II
Rob Haverty, Adobe
In this session you can learn about creating accessible PDFs & how to teach others. Day 1 - introduction to PDF accessibility. Day 2 - advanced topics and accessible PDF forms. This is a hands-on lab. You can attend 1 or both days. Attendance at both days is required to be certified as an “Adobe Certified PDF Trainer.”
Westminster Ballroom III
Wink Harner, The Foreign Type
Susan Kelmer, University of Colorado Boulder
Multiple presenters who are experts in alt-text conversion in STEM subjects, teach key steps to convert text in chemistry and math for both sighted (text-to-speech) users and non-sighted or LV users (screen reader) and Braille/tactile users. Using a broad base of specific assistive technologies for chemistry & math conversion.
Cotton Creek II
8 am – 4:30 pm Registration Desk Open, Fountain Greens Foyer
9 – 10:30 am AM Coffee Break, Standley Foyer
9 am – Noon Preconference Sessions
Noon – 1:30 pm Lunch (on your own)
1:30 – 4:30 pm Preconference Sessions
3 – 3:30 pm PM Coffee Break, Standley Foyer
Complete session details can be found at accessinghigherground.org
Gian Wild, AccessibilityOz
The Accessibility Testing workshop will cover a whole range of testing requirements: starting with an overview of testing – who, when, what and how.
Westminster Ballroom I
Dawn Hunziker, University of Arizona
Rob Eveleigh, Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges
Nate Evans, Michigan State University
This dynamic, interactive workshop is presented by ATHEN members. It includes foundational legal information, an analysis of federal agreements, and best practice approaches towards the goal of working through institutional challenges to create a strategic, and comprehensive approach for creating an accessible EIT environment.
Westminster Ballroom II
Rob Haverty, Accessibility, Adobe
In this session you can learn about creating accessible PDFs & how to teach others. Day 1 - introduction to PDF accessibility. Day 2 - advanced topics and accessible PDF forms. This is a hands-on lab. You can attend 1 or both days. Attendance at both days is required to be certified as an “Adobe Certified PDF Trainer.”
Westminster Ballroom III
Joseph Feria-Galicia, University of California, Berkeley
Lucy Greco, University of California, Berkeley
Ryan DiGiondomenico, University of California, Berkeley
This workshop provides an introduction to online course accessibility. Reasons for building and maintaining accessible courses are contextualized, explained and demonstrated from both a student and an institutional perspective. Emphasis is given to the use and evaluation of features within a Learning Management System (LMS).
Standley II Lab
Wink Harner, The Foreign Type
Susan Kelmer, University of Colorado Boulder
Multiple presenters who are experts in alt-text conversion in STEM subjects, teach key steps to convert text in chemistry and math for both sighted (text-to-speech) users and non-sighted or LV users (screen reader) and Braille/tactile users. Using a broad base of specific assistive technologies for chemistry & math conversion.
Cotton Creek II
Sheryl Burgstahler, University of Washington
Terrill Thompson, University of Washington
Richard Ladner, University of Washington
Howard Kramer, AHEAD, University of Colorado Boulder
Naomi Peterson, Central Washington University
Learn how accessible/inclusive/universal design and other proactive design practices can be integrated within computing and IT courses and thus increase the pool of future computing and IT professionals
Cotton Creek I
Jonathan Whiting, WebAIM
This workshop will begin with a thorough review of WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 requirements, and important principles not included in WCAG. We will then practice evaluating electronic documents and webpages for contrast using several free tools and resources.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Dave Litman, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC)
Stephanie Zito, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC)
Assistive Listening Devices(ALDs) can improve access to speech perception for deaf students who use hearing aids or cochlear implants. This presentation will provide an overview of ALD technology through an interactive demonstration, review best-practices for supporting the use of ALDs on campus, and discuss ways to support student self-advocacy.
Meadowbrook I
Susan Cullen, California State University
Cheryl Pruitt, California State University
Perspectives on the Capability Maturity Model driving the California State University Accessible Technology Initiative implementation. The Capability Maturity Model closely aligns with the resolution agreements of the Office of Civil Rights. Explore assessment techniques which can be applied to strategic accessibility compliance campus planning.
Meadowbrook II
Joe Humbert, Interactive Accessibility
Kathy Wahlbin, Interactive Accessibility
Mobile devices have significantly changed the way that people access content and services, and this opens new opportunities for persons with disabilities. This hands-on session will cover all the basics of mobile accessibility and will cover what is new for mobile accessibility in 2018 including WCAG 2.1.
Westminster Ballroom IV
Bevi Chagnon, PubCom—Publishing Communications
Learn to make accessible forms with Adobe InDesign’s excellent tools. If you know the basics of making accessible layouts from InDesign, this hands-on lab expands your skills for making accessible well-designed PDF forms quickly and efficiently. InDesign is a powerful tool for creating forms that need little—if any—remediation in Acrobat.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Stephanie Zito, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC)
Dave Litman, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC)
The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes’ mission is to reduce barriers to postsecondary education and support institutions in creating accessible environments. During this workshop, presenters will provide an overview of captioned media models as well as strategies to streamline the process.
Meadowbrook I
Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning
Amy Salmon, Tech for All, Inc.
Accessible EPUBs are becoming easier to find and purchase from any number of channels but in the educational world, many are far more comfortable with PDF. This workshop will take an accessible EPUB checklist and walk users through a live EPUB step by step, examining the features and resources that are available within the format.
Meadowbrook II
7 am – 4:30 pm Registration Desk Open, Fountain Greens Foyer
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9 am – 6:30 pm Exhibit Hall Open, Westminster Ballroom Foyer
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 – 11:15 am Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
11:15 am – 12:15 pm Breakout Sessions
12:20 - 2 pm Lunch (on your own)
2:15 – 3:15 pm Breakout Sessions
3:30 – 4:30 pm Breakout Sessions
4:30 – 6:30 pm Exhibit Hall Reception, Fountain Greens Foyer
6:30 – 8:30 pm ATHEN Annual Meeting, Westminster Ballroom IV
Complete session details can be found at accessinghigherground.org
Jack Sullivan, California State University
Cheryl Pruitt, Accessible Technology Initiative, CSU Office of the Chancellor
Gaeir Dietrich, Access Consultant
Launched in August 2017, AIMHub is an accessible instructional Launched in August 2017, AIMHub is an accessible instructional materials exchange service that assists accessible instructional material staff, by eliminating redundant efforts and integrating the best aspects of existing systems. We will demonstrate how AIMHub can help your campus and discuss how campuses nationwide can subscribe.
Waverly
Crystal Tenan, North Carolina State University
Bill Coker, Software Licensing Manager, NC State University
In this presentation, we will provide an overview of NC State’s IT Purchase Compliance process and focus on the accessibility review process. We will discuss the process of implementation, important considerations for working with the campus community and vendors, and the impact of the IT Purchase Compliance process on campus.
Meadowbrook I/II
Megan Gibbs, Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw State University recently developed a STEM-specific online guide for faculty to refer to when creating accessible STEM materials. This session will discuss the research conducted to create this guide, the implementation process, and our future plans to turn this into a professional development workshop.
Cotton Creek I
Chris Frazier, VZP Digital
A demonstration of VZP REACH, a multi-Voice Recognition API solution that maximizes speed, accuracy and accessibility to any classroom setting. After the demo, there will be a discussion of two different ways to use it, a traditional model and a new solution to include an entire campus that will increase accessibility and effectiveness of learning.
Cotton Creek II
Rob Haverty, Adobe
Making PDF documents & forms accessible can be a daunting task when you don’t know what tools are available & which is the best one to use. In this session, participants will be introduced to the various tools available in Acrobat Pro DC & walk through the workflow to take a document, convert it to a PDF, & fix some of the basic tagging issues. (Double Session)
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Joel Snyder, Audio Description Project – American Council of the Blind
A workshop on “The Four Fundamentals of Audio Description” and an in-depth look at audio description development and analysis.
Standley II Lab
Finding the Ways to Make Wayfinding Work
Kaela Parks, Portland Community College
Michael Cantino, Portland Community College
Online maps, tactile maps, written directions, beacons, and 3D campus models are all approaches used at Portland Community college. In this session we will share what we have learned in the process of making our campus map and path of travel information more accessible and usable for those with different needs and preferences.
Windsor
Sachin Gupta, Deque
You have handled accessibility for your website and mobile apps. What about the documents that you post on the website, and distribute digitally to the consumers? In this session, we will cover various considerations for document accessibility for multiple document types.
Westminster Ballroom I
Karen Hawkins, Publicis.Sapient
Almost anyone today can make a website accessible. But that doesn’t mean that people using assistive technologies can USE them! I aim to change that. As a user experience professional, I will walk the audience through more accessible AND usable implementations of common web components and flows.
Westminster Ballroom II
Sue Johnston, University of Maryland
UMD’s commitment to creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive educational environment for people of all abilities means that creators of web-based information must have the skills and abilities necessary to ensure it is accessible to all students. Learn how UMD is helping faculty become accessibility DIY’ers with their own course content.
Westminster Ballroom III
Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium
Joseph Polizzotto, Alternate Media Supervisor
An app or browser extension is needed to read EPUB titles, but they vary a lot in their functionality. When it comes to learners with disabilities, which apps will enable them to excel at their studies? This session presents an initiative that aims to answer that question.
Westminster Ballroom IV
James Fleming, Beacon College
There is an increasing need for understanding and incorporating assistive technology in education and in the workplace. Recognizing this need, a college level course was designed (Introduction to Assistive Technology) to help students learn the practice of and incorporating assistive technology. The outcomes of the course also help to develop an interest in the field as well as improving their personal needs.
Lakehouse
9 - 9:30 am CommonLook–Using CommonLook PDF GlobalAccess to Remediate and Verify PDF Documents for Accessibility
9:40 - 10:10 am Crawford Technologies–Using Smartphones and Barcodes to Make Documents Accessible
Suzanne Ehrlich, University of North Florida
This presentation explores how video notes can be leveraged to support Deaf students learning experiences in higher education. Students’ study practices are essential to their academic success (Mega, Ronconi, & DeBeni, 2014). This new approach to note taking for deaf students using video capture of interpreted lessons in face-to-face classroom.
Waverly
Paul Brown, Texthelp
Rachel Kruzel, Augsburg University
This session will overview Texthelp’s exciting math accessibility program, EquatIO. Learn how students and professors easily insert math into Word, Canvas, and more as well as make STEM textbook conversion a much easier process. Augsburg’s Rachel Kruzel will provide an inside look into how EquatIO is making math accessible across her campus.
Meadowbrook I/II
Becky Gibson, Knowbility
The recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) improve web accessibility for a wider range of users. Learn how the 17 new success criteria in WCAG 2.1 address mobile accessibility and increase access for people with low vision and cognitive impairments.
Cotton Creek I
John Jones, Wichita State University
Wichita State has been working to support a pre-med student who is blind for the last few years. Over the course of that time, we have gotten better and faster at producing materials to support this student’s learning. We will discuss lessons learned and the challenges we faced.
Cotton Creek II
Rob Haverty, Adobe
Making PDF documents & forms accessible can be a daunting task when you don’t know what tools are available & which is the best one to use. In this session, participants will be introduced to the various tools available in Acrobat Pro DC & walk through the workflow to take a document, convert it to a PDF, & fix some of the basic tagging issues.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Sam Johnston, CAST Inc.
Cynthia Curry, CAST Inc.
Increases in digital materials has helped students who struggle with print-based materials. However, digital materials and technologies are not always designed to be accessible from the start. We will address how higher education institutions can better meet their legal obligation to provide students with accessible educational materials.
Standley II Lab
Jordan Cameron, Kennesaw State University
This presentation showcases Kennesaw State University’s online Access4All Accessibility Basics series for faculty and staff and discusses how creators and facilitators employ Guskey’s Five Critical Levels of Professional Development to assess the impact of the initiative on learning throughout the university.
Windsor
Thomas Tobin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This interactive presentation radically reflects on implementing the UDL framework to provide better learning access, expand time for study and practice, and save faculty members time and effort, by broadening our disability focus toward a mobile-device mindset. Learn use-them-tomorrow strategies—without changing what or how we teach.
Westminster Ballroom I
Karen Hawkins, Publicis.Sapient
Almost anyone today can make a website accessible. But that doesn’t mean that people using assistive technologies can USE them! I aim to change that. As a user experience professional, I will walk the audience through more accessible AND usable implementations of common web components and flows.
Westminster Ballroom II
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
At the University of Washington, Accessibility is increasingly becoming a functional criterion for locally developed and third-party IT solutions. In this session we will share with you how we consider accessibility in our locally developed and third-party procurement processes.
Westminster Ballroom III
George Kerscher, DAISY Consortium/Benetech
Digital Educational publications with mathematics must be visually correct, and they must be accessible to persons with disabilities. We will look at the techniques that deliver born accessible publications in HTML and EPUB 3. We will demonstrate techniques with AT and explain how publishers are implementing the recommendations.
Westminster Ballroom IV
Kaela Parks, Portland Community College
Rondi Schei, Portland Community College
Lakehouse
Open education can lower textbook costs for students, but the movement also allows accessibility personnel to partner with instructional faculty, and librarians to foster inclusive course design. Open licensing allows users to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute, which can allow accessibility related features to improve over time.
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
11:15 - 11:45 am Sonocent–AT or a Tool for UDL? How All Students Improve Note Taking with Sonocent Audio Notetaker
Elisa Edelberg, 3PlayMedia
With multiple accessibility laws in the US, as well as dozens of lawsuits and DOJ/OCR inquiries related to inaccessible IT, it can extremely difficult to navigate the legal requirements for video accessibility at your organization. This session will create a Venn diagram of video a11y laws to help you navigate your obligations.
Waverly
Sheryl Burgstahler, University of Washington
How often do we hear people say this or feel this way ourselves? In this session the speaker will engage with attendees on promising practices for making the most of limited resources toward a more accessible IT environment on campus.
Meadowbrook I/II
Joe Humbert, Interactive Accessibility
This session will discuss compatibility testing done a number of ARIA states & properties and their current level of support with Assistive Technology software across operating systems and devices as well as look ahead at the changes coming in the next version of ARIA.
Cotton Creek I
Corrine Schoeb, Swarthmore College
Using a multi-pronged intradepartmental model, Swarthmore college is moving toward a paradigm of proactive inclusion of accessibility and away from a reactive model of accommodation. [additional sentence forthcoming]
Cotton Creek II
Bryan Gould, WGBH/NCAM
WGBH’s NCAM has released CADET (Caption and Description Editing Tool) - free, downloadable software that enables anyone to easily produce high-quality caption files and audio description scripts that are compatible with any media player on any web browser. In addition, new resources from the DIAGRAM Center for accessible digital images.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Christopher Lee, G3ict
Faced with legal repercussions colleges are beginning to take proactive measures in certifying accessibility professionals, testing products and services, and establishing procurement policies and procedures. This session will explore how campuses are taking proactive measures through launching creative initiatives to improve equal access for students, staff and campus visitors.
Windsor
Naomi Petersen, Central Washington University
Find out about a new undergraduate minor and professional development certificate in Accessibility Studies: The online curriculum and the very real influence it has to increase awareness and acceptance as well as advocacy skills--not just for its students but the faculty who had to approve it in order for it to get into the catalog!
Westminster Ballroom I
Christian Vinten-Johansen, Penn State University
Philip Voorhees, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Jamie Axelrod, Northern Arizona University
Instructional materials and ebooks in the EPUB format have been slow to be adopted by students, institutions and consumers. What might be the real and perceived barriers to acceptance? The panel will facilitate a discussion with attendees to discover the possible reasons.
Westminster Ballroom II
Michele Bromley, Portland State University
This presentation will break down the logistics for developing an alternative formats program around STEM and music materials. Attendees will learn how to (1) generate a basic alternative formats process, (2) administer alternative formats needs assessments, and (3) develop comprehensive procedures for addressing inaccessible math and music.
Westminster Ballroom III
Gary Aussant, Perkins School for the Blind
Incorporating accessibility best practices during the design of a digital experience (building it in) is much more cost effective than waiting until coding and development begins (bolting it on). This presentation will discuss an approach for reviewing designs for common accessibility pitfalls and documenting requirements in design artifacts.
Westminster Ballroom IV
Lars Ballieu Christensen, Sensus Aps
Tanja Stevns, Sensus Aps
This presentation will present how to design and create accessible documents and explain why this is important if we want to aid the process of providing barrier-free education for all. In addition, accessible documents can be re-purposed! Both presenters have a vast experience in the field of accessibility and will share their tips, tricks and resources.
Lakehouse
2:30 - 2:55 pm IAAP/G3ict–IIAP’s Higher Education Community of Practice
3:05 - 3:30 pm 3Play Media–Quick Start to Accessible Video
Kara Zirkle, Essential Accessibility
This presentation will discuss workflow ideas to help businesses and organizations, including higher ed. institutions incorporate accessibility into various different areas such as Policy/Procedure, Testing, Procurement and Equal Access/Assistive Technology. We’ll also discuss how each area compliments one another and ultimately fit into the larger picture of enterprise accessibility planning.
Waverly
Anita Mortaloni, Microsoft
Manju Banerjee, Landmark College
Meet Microsoft Accessibility experts, joined by Landmark College, to learn how Microsoft products can help create an inclusive learning environment meeting the needs of all learners. Landmark College, which exclusively serves students who learn differently, shares how they develop confident, independent students at scale through Microsoft products.
Meadowbrook I/II
David Sloan, The Paciello Group
Find out effective ways for successfully involving people with disabilities in digital product design and evaluation activities, from activity design to recruitment to generating high-impact results.
Cotton Creek I
Krista Greear, Blackboard
Developing a game plan for content remediation is like “build-your-own-adventure”. Let us do exactly that! Participants interested in developing a content remediation model unique to their campus will be led through different components and situations to empower their campus-wide content remediation efforts. (Double Session)
Cotton Creek II
Jonathan Whiting, WebAIM
In this hands-on workshop, learn to evaluate and repair common accessibility issues in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. (Double Session)
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Rob Haverty, Adobe
At Adobe we are working to improve the experience of creating accessible PDFs. However, it remains a sometimes-challenging process. In my time at Adobe & working with our customers I have garnered a lot of information about making PDFs accessible. The goal of this session is to share some of the ways I’ve learned to make the process easier for you. (Double Session)
Standley II Lab
Ryan Pugh, Onix
What’s the first step in developing a digital document accessibility program that works for your organization and your users? Learn what decisions you need to make and how to implement those choices to ensure widespread digital document accessibility now and into the future.
Windsor
George Kerscher, DAISY Consortium/Benetech
Becky Gibson, Knowbility
This presentation will provide an overview of what educational publishers are providing by using the EPUB 3 format. The standards, the accessibility conformance requirements, and reporting will be covered. You will learn about the accessibility of EPUBs before it is purchased, and the accessibility of Reading Apps.
Westminster Ballroom I
Sheryl Burgstahler, University of Washington
UD has emerged as framework for addressing diversity issues in the design of software, instruction, and student services. Engage with speaker and other participants about how promoting the UD paradigm to all aspects of campus life can influence the expectation that IT procured, developed, and used on campus will be accessible too.
Westminster Ballroom II
Dawn Okinaka, California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Leon McNaught, California State University, San Bernardino
Christine Fundell, California State University, San Bernardino
Lin Mahoney, McGraw-Hill Education
Lauren Trimble, ITHAKA
Tiffany Saulter, ITHAKA
Mary Finer, ITHAKA
Participants will gain an overview of the California State University (CSU) accessibility review process from the CSU and vendor perspectives. Learning outcomes include basic components of a Critical Accessibility Review, strategies for working with vendors to obtain meaningful accessibility documentation, and changes from the vendor prospective. (Double Session)
Westminster Ballroom III
Deb Castiglione, Cengage
Not just accessibility, but universal design is critical to meet the diverse needs of learners in higher education today. An overview of what Cengage has done and is doing to integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility into current and future educational experiences will be provided. The specific needs/desires of learners in higher education and those that support them will be discussed.
Westminster IV
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
Ken Ding, Zoom
Web Conferencing Tools are an integral part of higher education systems and are used more and more for webinars, virtual meetings, and team collaborations. Thanks to feedback from the Athen Zoom Accessibility Collaboration Group, Zoom became reasonably accessible to users. In this session, we’ll discuss and demo selected accessibility features.
Lakehouse
3:40 - 4 pm BeeLine Reader–Mobile Considerations for Text Accessibility
4:10 - 4:30 pm Spellex Corporation–Empowering Through Assistive Technology
William Burgess, Middle Tennessee State University
Is it a heading or a header? Vocabulary is a necessary building block in creating accessible user experiences. Let’s collaborate to be sure we’re all up-to-speed on the terminology of accessibility.
Waverly
Elizabeth Simister, Blackboard Inc.
Helping organizations understand how to evaluate the content in a vendor’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or Accessibility Conformance Report.
Meadowbrook I/II
Guy Toles, Georgia Institute of Technology
This session will present the results of nation-wide survey on tactile graphics. Aim of the survey was to investigate experiences of students with visual disabilities with tactile graphics. How tactile graphics can be designed in a way to support students’ learning will be discussed in the light of the results.
Cotton Creek I
Krista Greear, Blackboard
Developing a game plan for content remediation is like “build-your-own-adventure”. Let us do exactly that! Participants interested in developing a content remediation model unique to their campus will be led through different components and situations to empower their campus-wide content remediation efforts.
Cotton Creek II
Jonathan Whiting, WebAIM
In this hands-on workshop, learn to evaluate and repair common accessibility issues in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Rob Haverty, Adobe
At Adobe we are working to improve the experience of creating accessible PDFs. However, it remains a sometimes-challenging process. In my time at Adobe & working with our customers I have garnered a lot of information about making PDFs accessible. The goal of this session is to share some of the ways I’ve learned to make the process easier for you.
Standley II Lab
Carlos Herrera, Queensborough Community College
Shivan Mahabir, Queensborough Community College
Bill Kilroy, VFO Group
Michael Wood, VFO Group
The City University of New York (CUNY) and leading assistive technology (AT) software manufacturers are leveraging the power of a package of AT software tools to increase access and other benefits to all CUNY students, Faculty and staff. One year after entering into this precedent setting agreement, we will discuss the goals and objectives of the pilot.
Windsor
Adrian Ricketts, Chattanooga State Community College
This session outlines the journey to attain digital accessibility while utilizing UDL principles in course design at Chattanooga State Community College. The experiences shared will include what our team has learned in four years of combining more accessible user experiences and an updated online course design process.
Westminster Ballroom I
Ken Nakata, Cyxtera
Do you understand how disability laws affect websites? This presentation reviews the most important accessibility laws for US-based organizations and universities and offer approaches to avoid serious fines and penalties. We will also introduce the roles of enforcement agencies and private litigants—and steps to take to avoid their scrutiny.
Westminster Ballroom II
Dawn Okinaka, California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Leon McNaught, California State University, San Bernardino
Christine Fundell, Lead Accessibility Specialist, CSU San Bernardino
Lin Mahoney, McGraw-Hill Education
Lauren Trimble, ITHAKA
Tiffany Saulter, ITHAKA
Mary Finer, ITHAKA
Participants will gain an overview of the California State University (CSU) accessibility review process from the CSU and vendor perspectives. Learning outcomes include basic components of a Critical Accessibility Review, strategies for working with vendors to obtain meaningful accessibility documentation, and changes from the vendor prospective.
Westminster III
Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium
In addition to published books and journals, learners also need access to accessible documents produced by their own school and professors. This session will demonstrate practical workflows for creating accessible and flexible course materials.
Westminster IV
Elizabeth Linnetz, Primacy
Tyrone Mitchell, Primacy
A case study describing the process of transforming complex, inaccessible forms into accessible forms.
Lakehouse
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
Westminster Ballroom IV
7 am – 5 pm Registration Desk Open, Fountain Greens Foyer
9 am – 5 pm Exhibit Hall Open, Westminster Ballroom Foyer
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 – 11:15 am Roundtable Discussions
11:15 am – 12:15 pm Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
12:20 – 2 pm Lunch (on your own)
2:15 – 3:15 pm Breakout Sessions
3:15 – 4 pm Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break
4 – 5 pm Breakout Sessions
7 – 8:30 pm Keynote Banquet featuring Britney Wilson (Sponsored by Accessibility Oz)
Westminster Ballroom I/II/III
Complete session details can be found at accessinghigherground.org
Thomas Madsen, Youngstown State University
Gina McGranahan, Youngstown State University
The issues with the lack of electronic accessibility on college campuses have been well documented. Efforts are currently underway to correct these deficiencies. In this presentation we will share experiences in making electronic content at Youngstown State University more accessible.
Waverly
Christa Miller, Virginia Tech
As subject matter experts in disabilities and accessibility, we are often called upon to provide training and professional development to others. However, it is uncommon for us to receive formal training in this area ourselves. Through discussion and small group activities, participants will explore and practice techniques for giving presentations
Meadowbrook I/II
Michael Wood, VFO
In this session we will discuss how colleges and universities are moving towards site licenses of software to provide access to students and faculty anywhere on campus and at home. We will share success stories from other schools currently using this model and discuss the process it took to reach that level.
Cotton Creek I
Jeffrey Singleton, Cxytera
Ken Nakata, Cxytera
Web accessibility newcomers are often bewildered on where to begin. This session provides a jump start in understanding basic web accessibility principles and the impact on people with disabilities.
Cotton Creek II
Rob Haverty, Adobe
Adobe continues to focus on improving the experience in making PDFs accessible & using Acrobat. Each release of Acrobat Pro DC (continuous version) has new or improved functionality to achieve this goal. This session will walk participants though the various updates & how to use the new features & functionality. (Double Session)
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Sharron Rush, Knowbility
Robert Jolly, Knowbility
Step through and learn to use resources from the new WAI website to help you validate, document, and maintain WCAG conformance of your websites and applications. (Double Session)
Standley II Lab
Leila Flores-Torres, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Tonya Paulette, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
This presentation focuses on the contribution of student workers to the expansion of accessibility services and to the perception of sense of belonging of students with disabilities. We will explore the experiences and perspectives of university students who provide accessibility services, and those who utilize accessibility services and supports.
Windsor
Tania Heap, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Marc Thompson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
This panel presentation aims to share design strategies, experiences, and challenges in delivering accessibility and universal design training to different audiences in online higher education: from faculty members teaching a broad range of disciplines, to eLearning and media professionals involved in online course development and production.
Westminster Ballroom I
Jonathan Whiting, WebAIM
Published in June 2018, WCAG 2.1 is the first update to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in almost a decade. Learn what’s new in WCAG 2.1, if these changes have any impact on US law, and how to start implementing some of these principles today.
Westminster Ballroom II
Jamie Axelrod, Northern Arizona University
Dawn Evans, AMAC Accessibility
Korey Singleton, George Mason University
Robert Becker, University of Phoenix
A select panel of DR/DS providers will discuss the benefits and concerns of adopting EPUB materials as a way to ensure accessibility.
Westminster Ballroom III
Suman Damera, Deque Software
Discover some of the most significant new additions to WAI-ARIA 1.1, and how well these properties and values are supported with different assistive technologies.
Westminster IV
Rick Johnson, VitalSource Technologies, LLC.
Amy Salmon, Tech for All, Inc.
Buyer Beware is not what learners want when looking for accessible materials. Transparency into the accessibility features of a textbook or other learning materials before purchase, or before the selection by an instructor has long been a dream, but no longer! Come learn how VitalSource, and the industry are providing this long wished for ability.
Lakehouse
9 - 9:25 am Dinolytics–Dynolytics Powered by WAVE
9:35 - 10 am Onix–Equidox by Onix: PDF Remediation in Under a Minute
10:10 - 10:35 am Enhanced Vision/Freedom Scientific/Optelec/Paciello Group– Vispero Accessibility Licensing for the Higher Ed Enterprise
Gary Aussant, Perkins School for the Blind
If you are working with an accessibility consultant (or thinking about it) this presentation will provide some best practices to ensure that the client / consultant partnership is a successful one.
Waverly
Kristen Dabney, Tufts University
Tufts Student Accessibility Services office created accessibility testing guidelines designed to help IT professionals complete basic accessibility audits for digital products before they are purchased.
Meadowbrook I/II
Joe Humbert, Interactive Accessibility
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT®) 2.0 is the current iteration of a method for organizations to document the accessibility of their products and services. This session will discuss how VPAT 2.0 improves upon its original version, how they should be created, and how to use them to vet accessibility conformance claims.
Cotton Creek I
Kevin Darcy, University of Colorado Boulder
Mike Williamson, University of Colorado Boulder
Amelia Dickerson, University of Colorado Boulder
This research seeks to illuminate how objective ADA policies and academic accommodations are experienced by blind students at CU Boulder.
Cotton Creek II
Rob Haverty, Adobe
Adobe continues to focus on improving the experience in making PDFs accessible & using Acrobat. Each release of Acrobat Pro DC (continuous version) has new or improved functionality to achieve this goal. This session will walk participants though the various updates & how to use the new features & functionality.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Sharron Rush, Knowbility
Robert Jolly, Knowbility
Step through and learn to use resources from the new WAI website to help you validate, document, and maintain WCAG conformance of your websites and applications.
Standley II Lab
Gerard Cohen, Wells Fargo
Semantics on the web have to do with the implied meaning and interaction, and they are the backbone of web accessibility. It’s important that both designers and developers are familiar with the semantic meaning of elements. Choosing the right element, and using in the correct way, is just as important to designers as it is developers.
Windsor
Craig Spooner, Colorado State University
Marla Roll, Assistive Technology Resource Center
Allison Kidd, Assistive Technology Resource Center
Anna Walker, Assistive Technology Resource Center
Last year at AHG we showed a pilot video and gathered feedback. Now, the videos are complete. We will show samples of this new video curriculum, which uses storytelling to personalize the concepts of diversity and inclusion to help educate faculty and staff about the benefits of universally designed instructional materials.
Westminster Ballroom I
Chris O’Brien, Accessible Media Inc
Integrated Described Video (IDV) is the next generation of described video, bringing a proactive, universal design approach to description.
Westminster II
Gaby De Jongh, University of Washington
Ana Thompson, University of Washington Bothell
In early 2017, the University of Washington implemented a document accessibility Pilot Project to explore the complexities, financial burden, and time commitments facing units when implementing Washington State Policy 188: Access to Information Technology. Hear the details of the pilot and how it influenced an initiative across campus.
Westminster III
Edward Beason, Tennessee Tech University
This session will provide real-world insights to successfully building and navigating relationships with faculty and others on campus.
Westminster Ballroom IV
Will Lewis, Microsoft
Brian Trager, NTID
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has the largest access services in the world, providing interpretive and captioning services to the 8% of their student population who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH). Microsoft technologies in PowerPoint and Microsoft Translator have provided additional communication tools to fill the gap.
Lakehouse
Locations announced on site.
10:45 - 11:15 am sComm–Face-to-Face Communication-Deaf Hard of
Hearing, and hearing
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
2:30 - 3:15 pm Docsoft Inc.–Captioning-It’s Time
Heidi Schroeder, Michigan State University
This presentation will describe how libraries in the Big Ten Academic Alliance have used their collective influence and resources to engage with vendors to improve library electronic resource accessibility and to share accessibility information with the broader library community.
Waverly
Gian Wild, AccessibilityOz
Gian Wild goes through the accessibility issues of each of the four main social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn) and discusses ways that you can make sure your social media content is accessible.
Meadowbrook I/II
Korey Singleton, George Mason University
Robert Starr, George Mason University
This session will highlight the GMU Assistive Technology Initiative’s efforts to build a sustainable document accessibility strategy. We will cover the successes and failures of our 1-year pilot, strategies for document remediation, and outreach initiatives.
Cotton Creek I
Michael Harris, Yale University
Michael Vaughn, Yale University
Michelle Morgan, Yale University
We will outline how Yale has been successful setting up an internal consultancy to support accessibility throughout the university. We will describe the group’s role and scope within the institution and how it interacts with other campus units. We will discuss approaches to supporting multiple stakeholders, from faculty to web developers.
Cotton Creek II
Susan Kelmer, University of Colorado Boulder
Making math accessible for the visually impaired or those with specific learning disabilities seems like an insurmountable task. However, it turns out it isn’t all that hard to do! You just need to have access to the right software, learn the software, and give yourself time to practice and hone those skills. Making math accessible doesn’t have to be terrifying! (Double Session)
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Bevi Chagnon, PubCom—Publishing Communications
If you already can make InDesign layouts for accessible PDFs, then this demonstration will give the details you need to know about converting them to accessible EPUBs, giving your college more options to meet the needs of your students with minimal cost and labor. (Double Session)
Standley II
Michael Mace, Indiana University
Greg Hanek, Indiana University
Learn how Indiana University uses a document repository to serve the same accessibility content to online courses, websites, and a knowledge base. Editing a single document permits that information to flow outward to all three distribution channels, simplifying updates and maintenance while ensuring consistency of message.
Windsor
John Scott, Blackboard
Nicolaas Matthijs, Blackboard
Presenters discuss Universal Design for Learning and the importance of representing course content in diverse formats for learners. Drawing from course content research, we demonstrate how Blackboard Ally activates UDL guidelines by automatically generating “alternative formats” of files, allowing students to choose formats that work best for them.
Westminster Ballroom I
Elisa Edelberg, 3PlayMedia
This session will cover the basics of how to add audio description to online video, legal requirements for audio description, video player compatibility, examples and demos, how to create audio description, and benefits of audio description outside of accessibility.
Westminster Ballroom II
Making Web Pages Accessible for Persons with Anxiety Disorder Using WCAG Guidelines and UDL (Videotaped )
Valorie Sundby, AMAC
Anxiety is often the companion of other disabilities and can take a backseat, not getting diagnosed and treated. The shame and humiliation of being identified with an anxiety disorder and accepting treatment is not trivial. Some of the Success Criteria in WCAG 2.0 and UDL Principles can help lessen anxiety and prevent it from becoming disabling.
Westminster Ballroom III
Paul Rayius, CommonLook
Building on last year’s session “Understanding the Standards and Mitigating Risk,” in which a “Multi-Phase Accessibility Plan” was proposed for achieving document accessibility, this year we’ll look at where automation can fit into this plan to help with accessible document creation, remediation, testing, and more.
Westminster Ballroom IV
Justin Stockton, The Paciello Group
Frameworks like React, Angular and Vue allow developers to build reusable components. We’ll look at different types of components and highlight the techniques needed to reuse them in an accessible manner.
Lakehouse
Westminster Ballroom Foyer
4 - 4:30 pm Eye to Eye–Eye to Eye Mentoring Program: How We Help Serve Your Students
Tyler Matney, New Editions Consulting, Inc.
Get an overview of AbleData’s resources to help faculty, administrators and students with disabilities find assistive technologies (AT) to assist them in performing educational tasks. We will help you understand different AT options and support programs available to accommodate student needs and how to help them achieve equal access.
Waverly
Angela Hooker, Microsoft
Whether or not you’re new to the field, when you manage an accessibility program, you can fall into common traps--but there’s no need to! Learn from my observations and old mistakes! Get tips for running a successful program and avoiding poor management choices, poor policy, poor planning, and more that can hinder your program.
Meadowbrook I/II
Craig Nathan Moss, Sonocent
Struggling with retention targets? Retaining ‘at risk of failure’ students is a complex task, but for Tennessee Tech’s DSS department assistive technology was a tool for empowerment on intensive courses. This session explores how a pilot of note taking software enabled every single student to increase their GPA and engage with challenging courses.
Cotton Creek I
Naveesha Maharaj, Deque
Violation of standards or a best practice? As much as we all want an exceptional web experience for our users, we don’t have the resources to follow every best practice while also ensuring that our process is efficient and effective. Let’s focus on clarifying some of the most confusing, debated and misinterpreted areas in the realm of accessibility requirements and best practices.
Cotton Creek II
Susan Kelmer, University of Colorado Boulder
Making math accessible for the visually impaired or those with specific learning disabilities seems like an insurmountable task. However, it turns out it isn’t all that hard to do! You just need to have access to the right software, learn the software, and give yourself time to practice and hone those skills. Making math accessible doesn’t have to be terrifying!
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Bevi Chagnon, PubCom—Publishing Communications
If you already can make InDesign layouts for accessible PDFs, then this demonstration will give the details you need to know about converting them to accessible EPUBs, giving your college more options to meet the needs of your students with minimal cost and labor.
Standley II Lab
Jess Thompson, WA State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
Colleges participating in Washington State’s Access360 use the GOALS Benchmark and Planning tool from the National Center on Disability and Access to Education to develop a shared understanding of what institutional accessibility looks like and to guide system colleges as they work to develop and implement accessibility policy and procedures.
Windsor
Ken Nakata, Cyxtera
Jeff Singleton, Cxytera
Web accessibility newcomers are often bewildered on where to begin. This session provides a jump start in understanding basic web accessibility principles and the impact on people with disabilities.
Westminster Ballroom I
Eric Eggert, Knowbility
ARIA. HTML. CSS. Animation. Interaction. The Web in 2018 is incredibly complex. In this Talk, Eric Eggert shows how to use accessible design principles to plan, communicate, and implement accessibility in projects from the start.
Westminster Ballroom II
Kathryn Weber-Hottleman, University of Connecticut
Participants will learn to incorporate consideration of policies, automated and manual compliance testing, and training for various skill levels of web content authors into enterprise-level accessibility plans.
Westminster III
Bill Kasdorf, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC
Luc Audrain, Hachette Livre
Rob Posadas, Atypon
Jon McGlone, University of Michigan
Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium
EPUB is a standard format for trade and scholarly books--and now, journals too. They are closer to being accessible than most people realize. Speakers will include Luc Audrain from Hachette (trade books); Jon McGlone from the University of Michigan Press (scholarly monographs); and a speaker TBD from Atypon (journal articles as EPUBs).
Westminster Ballroom IV
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
Jeremy Spurlin, Microsoft
The Ribbon is an integral part of Microsoft Office products. Thanks to feedback from the Athen Microsoft Collaboration Group, Microsoft recently redesigned the Ribbon for Word Online, simplifying the Ribbon’s user interactions to make it more accessible to all users. In this session we’ll discuss and demo the redesigned Ribbon we collaborated on.
Lakehouse
Thursday, November 15, 7 - 8:30 pm
Sponsored by AccessibilityOz
Westminster Ballroom I/II/III
“...and People With Disabilities”
Britney Wilson, Staff Attorney/Dodyk Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Ms. Wilson will discuss how disability intersects with race, gender, and several of the political issues of the day as well as the need for social justice advocates to recognize and fully incorporate disability and disability rights into their work.
7:30 am – 1 pm Registration Desk Open, Fountain Greens Foyer
8 – 9 am Breakout Sessions
9:15 – 10:15 am Breakout Sessions
10:15 - 10:30 am AM Refreshment Break, Standley Foyer
10:30 - 11:30 am Breakout Sessions
11:45 am - 12:45 pm Breakout Sessions
Complete session details can be found at accessinghigherground.org
Unconference
Topics and locations will be announced on site.
Bill Curtis-Davidson, Level Access
This session will provide an overview of how to: • inventory your digital assets • evaluate your digital assets based on key risk factors • prioritize your digital assets for remediation • establish a prioritization plan for remediation.
Waverly
Rachel Kruzel, Augsburg University
The field of Assistive Technology and Accessibility is constantly changing. Tech giants are making more frequent updates to their products. As a result, knowing the latest updates is essential. Assistive Technology and Accessibility software updates from major tech companies such as Texthelp, Sonocent, and Microsoft, as well as free and low-cost tools to support students on campus will be featured and shown.
Meadowbrook I
Jordan Cameron, Kennesaw State University
The presentation will cover Kennesaw State University’s collaborative work with vendors to create a custom captioning solution for the university community and the results of making captioning an ingrained part of instructional development.
Meadowbrook II
Naveesha Maharaj, Deque
The question has been in the air from people of all roles. Does a PDF need to just comply with the Adobe Accessibility Checker or does it need to conform with WCAG 2.0 & PDF/UA? Let’s look at the importance of not only producing a universally accessible document, but also a usable high-quality document instead of only conforming with a standard.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Gerard Cohen, Wells Fargo
In this presentation, I go throughout history to meet famous people/events that have helped shaped accessibility and look forward to what’s to come.
Cotton Creek I
Binky Lush, Penn State University Libraries
Vicki Brightbill, Penn State University Libraries
What started as a small gathering of individuals, passionate about accessibility in the libraries, in a few short years grew to become an active organization that advocates for accessibility across the libraries and across Penn State University.
Standley II Lab
Richard Ladner, University of Washington
A survey was done in 2017 of more than 14,000 computing and information science faculty in the US about whether or not they teach accessibility related topics and if not, why not. The results of the survey will be presented along with observations about how to increase the teaching of accessibility.
Cotton Creek II
George Kerscher, DAISY Consortium/Benetech
Robin Seaman, Benetech
Philip Voorhees, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
It is incumbent on institutions to purchase accessible software and educational publications. Getting accessible software and content in to universities has been difficult, but there are some major breakthroughs! This session will cover techniques that work to purchase both accessible software, and certified born accessible published content.
Windsor
Christa Miller, Virginia Tech
Changing campus climate to better support disabilities requires a multi-pronged effort including policies, procedures, and requirements. However, it is nearly impossible to create change without building relationships with those who can make those changes. This session will focus on developing an action plan, identifying needs, and partners.
Westminster Ballroom I
Emily Moore, University of Colorado Boulder
Interactive science simulations are commonly used in college courses. We will introduce PhET Interactive Simulations, free online simulations that support learning through science inquiry. We will then share our research into creating simulations accessible through auditory descriptions and alternative input, and resources for supporting teachers.
Westminster Ballroom II
Jacqueline Tolisano, Optum
Angela Tarvin, Optum
This session discusses how to prepare your digital content for an ongoing accessibility governance program. Angela and Jacqui will share their experience in helping Optum and United Healthcare bring their consumer-facing digital properties into compliance and how this approach can work for anyone creating and publishing digital content.
Waverly
Bill Welsh, Rutgers University
Charlie Collick, Rutgers University
Nate Evans, Michigan State University
Learn how the Big Ten Academic Alliance is working together to develop policies, processes and procedures for procurement of accessible IT as well as assisting each other with managing vendor relationships that can foster better product accessibility within the Big 10. Also, each presenter will share their own institutions practices in this area.
Meadowbrook I
Gian Wild, AccessibilityOz
Incorporating accessibility into your web site build is important and can often mean the difference between an accessible and an inaccessible site at launch. Specific stages require accessibility intervention, including design, template, and final site launch. Suitable tasks and training are also covered.
Meadowbrook II
Elizabeth Linnetz, Primacy
Tyrone Mitchell, Primacy
In this session, we share the steps to building successful partnerships with vendors, internal developers, and authors to design and maintain accessible websites or apps. Our discussion provides solutions for common problems accessibility teams regularly encounter.
Standley I (Adobe Lab)
Holly Lawson, Portland State University
Shiri Azenkot, Cornell Tech
Lei Shi, Cornell Tech
Michael Cantino, Portland State University
This presentation introduces the Markit and Talkit iOS software, which enables an individual to add text or audio annotations to a 3d printed model. Presenters share the use of this toolkit with 3d printed tactile maps.
Cotton Creek I
Eric Eggert, Knowbility
Accessibility and Multi-Screen Design is an integral part of the Content Strategy Master’s Course at FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria. This talk shows how the topic of accessibility is positioned inside the Course and how students can be engaged in the topic of accessibility.
Cotton Creek II
Art Morgan, Automatic Sync Technologies
John Tubbs, Director of Digital Media for eLearning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Gies College of Business
Accommodation strategies used with on-campus degree programs often don’t translate to appropriate solutions for MOOCs. This session explores how the University of Illinois’ hybrid graduate degree and MOOC program used captioned video, audio description, and HTML content modules to create accessible courses for more than 300,000 students.
Windsor
Bill Kasdorf, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC
Deb Castiglione, Cengage
Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning
Mary Conzachi, McGraw-Hill Education
Jonathan Thurston, Pearson
Tim Lindner, Wiley
The Big 5 higher ed publishers share their EPUB stories: How are they implementing accessibility and what features can you expect in their new titles? Moderated by Bill Kasdorf, speakers include Rachel Comerford from Macmillan Learning, Jonathan Thurston from Pearson, Lisa Nicks from McGraw-Hill, and Michele Bruno from Cengage.
Westminster Ballroom I
Eileen Hopkins, Access Innovation Media (Ai-Media)
Sue Sanossian, Access Innovation Media (Ai-Media)
This presentation will touch on some of our research-based findings in to the wider use of captioning and will highlight some of the beneficiaries of this technology – beyond “traditional” users and environments.
Westminster Ballroom II
Paul Harwell, Harvard University
This session will discuss the core issues that impact notetaking processes and how to use technology to support effective notetaking. We will go beyond a simple list of tech tools and instead focus on how and why technology, when paired with the right strategies, can improve access.
Waverly
Brad Held, University of Central Florida
Disability Professionals struggle to garner interest for their presentations or workshops. Just getting faculty or staff to register for their training doesn’t guarantee that the topics will be practiced. In this presentation, the presenter will share tips for designing a memorable educational experience that doesn’t involve a projector/clicker.
Meadowbrook I
Dennis Quon, Crawford Technologies
It’s important that documents be delivered in accessible formats. Traditionally, this is a manual process. New tools are available today that help automate the generation of accessible electronic formats, including Accessible PDF, Accessible HTML, and ePUB. We will discuss best practices for converting published documents such as course material, syllabi, custom courseware, and other educational material to accessible electronic formats for all assistive technologies.
Meadowbrook II
Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning
Amy Salmon, Tech for All, Inc.
As educational materials move to the digital domain, resources provided to students extend beyond texts. Simulations have all become key resources. Each needs to be accessible and comes with unique challenges. Sadly, accessibility has an undeserved reputation for joyless functionality and pedagogical compromise. So how do we make Pretty Accessible?
Cotton Creek I
Howard Kramer, AHEAD, University of Colorado Boulder
Terrill Thompson, University of Washington
Korey Singleton, George Mason University
In this session the speakers will review curricula components that they and other faculty have used in classes that teach about accessibility in computer science, IT and web design courses. Specific resources that can incorporated into classes will be discussed.
Cotton Creek II
Scott Marshall, University of Minnesota
Beyond technical tools, our work calls us to use qualities like compassion, courage, hospitality, and more. These qualities can be tools, and like all tools, they require intentional practice to wield effectively. We will explore what these qualities are, their presence in our work, and ways we might practice, nurture, and make them a priority.
Windsor
Volker Sorge, Progressive Accessibility Solultions
We present an overview of the accessibility features of the new release of MathJax, a library for rendering mathematical formulas on the web. We demonstrate how to convert mathematical teaching material into web content that can be rendered with MathJax and automatically be made accessible for students with visual impairments and dyslexia.
Westminster Ballroom I
9 - 9:30 am Commonlook–Using CommonLook PDF GlobalAccess to Remediate and Verify PDF Documents for Accessibility (David Herr)
9:40 - 10:10 am Crawford Technologies– Using Smartphones and Barcodes to Make Documents Accessible (Doug Koppenhofer)
11:15 - 11:45 am Sonocent–AT or a Tool for UDL? How All Students
Improve Note Taking with Sonocent Audio Notetaker
(Craig Nathan-Moss)
2:30 - 2:55 pm IAAP/G3ict–IAAP’s Higher Education Community of
Practice (Christopher Lee)
3:05 - 3:30 pm 3Play Media–Quick Start to Accessible Video
(Elisa Edelberg)
3:40 - 4 pm BeeLine Reader–Mobile Considerations For Text
Accessibility (Nick Lum)
4:10 – 4:30 p.m. Spellex Corporation–Empowering Through Assistive Technology (Vince Petrillo)
9 - 9:25 am Dinolytics–Dinolytics Powered by WAVE, Jay Pope
9:35 - 10 am Onix–Equidox by Onix: PDF Remediation in Under a Minute (Pat Needles)
10:10 - 10:35 am Enhanced Vision/Freedom Scientific/Optelec/
The Paciello Group, Vispero Accessibility Licensing for the Higher Ed Enterprise (Mike Wood)
10:45 - 11:15 am sComm–Face-to-Face Communication - Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing (Jason Curry)
2:30 - 3:15 pm Docsoft Inc.–Captioning-It’s Time... (Michael Robichaux)
4 - 4:30 pm Eye to Eye, Inc.–Eye to Eye Mentoring Program: How We Help Serve Your Students (Tori Kissner)
Booth #11
www.3playmedia.com
Accessible Video Made Easy. 3Play Media provides closed captioning, transcription, and audio description to more than 2,500 customers in higher education, enterprise, entertainment, and government. 3Play Media simplifies the process of making videos accessible through flexible APIs, integrations with video players and platforms, simple plugins, and a user-friendly online account system.
Booth #17
www.accessibilityoz.com
AccessibilityOz is an accessibility consultancy based in Australia and the United States. They work to ensure that clients meet accessibility requirements, by providing assistance during fixes and instructional information through AccessibilityOz’s products, OzWiki and OzART. AccessibilityOz offers a range of accessibility services and products to organizations around the world.
adobe.com
Adobe gives you everything you need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences. We’re passionate about empowering people to create beautiful and powerful images, videos, and apps across every screen
Booth #14
www.ai-media.tv
Ai-Media is dedicated to ending the experience of social, educational and vocational exclusion by creating economic access solutions for people with disabilities. Ai-Media’s US, Canadian, UK and Australian offices operate 24-7-365 to deliver accurate real-time captioning and transcription services. We work with committed partners, contributing to a more inclusive world.
Booth #13
appligent.com
Appligent Document Solutions provides high quality Accessibility Services and Remediation of PDF documents. Our Education customers rely on us for excellent advice and service in providing accessible content. Email us at Section508@appligent.com.
Booth #12
www.blackboard.com
Blackboard Ally is a revolutionary product that integrates seamlessly into the Learning Management System and focuses on making digital course content more accessible.
Booth #24
www.commonlook.com
CommonLook® is a world-leading provider of software products and professional services enabling government agencies and corporations to meet their obligations for electronic document accessibility to achieve compliance accessibility standards.
Booth #15
www.compliancesheriff.com
Compliance Sheriff, a Cyxtera solution, allows you to make your website accessible. Cyxtera delivers web accessibility software and a comprehensive framework for web accessibility built upon extensive research and decades of global industry experience to develop a practical and robust accessibility model. Our customers have leveraged Compliance Sheriff to shape customer’s accessibility policies and practices.
Booth #9
www.deque.com
Deque Systems is a leading provider of web and mobile accessibility software and services. Striving to provide practical accessibility solutions that reflect real-world development environments, Deque works with a broad range of clients to not only fix their inaccessible content but to integrate accessibility into their existing design and development processes through the use of automation and training. The Deque agile approach to accessibility ensures that organizations that have the toolset to make large and complex websites accessible.
Booth #16
https://vispero.com
Empowering Independence
Vispero™ is the world’s leading assistive technology provider for the visually impaired and owner of the brands Ai Squared, Enhanced Vision, Freedom Scientific, Optelec and The Paciello Group. All of the Vispero brands have a long history of developing and providing innovative solutions for blind and low vision individuals, helping them to reach their full potential
Booth #28
http://microsoft.com/accessibility
Microsoft is committed to creating and delivering technology that empowers all people. We know that people interact with our products in diverse ways. So, we’re working hard to ensure our products are designed with accessibility in mind and provide a great user experience for everyone. For more information, please visit our website: http://microsoft.com/accessibility and be sure to attend one of our presentations about the accessibility work being done throughout Microsoft.
Booth #19
equidox.co
Equidox by Onix™ empowers organizations to easily and cost effectively convert inaccessible PDFs into WCAG 2.0 AA-compliant HTML and accessible PDF and EPUB 2 content. Leverage the Equidox web-based conversion tool for in-house document remediation or outsource your project to their PDF Conversion Services team. Onix also offers website and application accessibility testing, training, and consulting to help organizations break down the barriers to information access and reach everyone in their potential audience.
www.perkins.org/access
Perkins School for the Blind, a world leader in services for people with visual impairments and other disabilities for almost 200 years, knows all about making the world more accessible to reduce barriers. Our history, combined with our extensive experience in digital accessibility, has led our accessibility consulting group, Perkins Access, to become a trusted adviser to companies, governments and educational institutions around the world.
Booth #32
https://qainfotech.com/
QA InfoTech is a leading independent software testing company with a workforce of 1300+ QA engineers and domain experts. We cater globally to a number of clients in varied domains with our gamut of testing services which include- Manual-Functional testing, Automation testing, Performance testing, Security testing, Globalization-Localization testing, and a niche in Accessibility testing with our novel paired testing approach wherein one visually impaired engineer conducts the test coverage with a sighted engineer to produce realistic and expedient results.
www.qainfotech.com
Booth #23
www.sonocent.com
The future of note taking. Hello from Sonocent! We develop software that enables students to achieve more. Our tools combine audio, color highlighting, text, images and presentation slides all into a single visual and kinesthetic workspace for learning. With our software you can visualize speech from audio recordings, making audio as easy to access and manipulate as text. Sonocent Audio Notetaker can be used to help learners take notes in class, compose essays, practice presentations and more. We’re proud to have already helped over 120,000 students, and be used by more than 300 US colleges and extensively in the UK.
Booth #21
www.texthelp.com
Hello we’re Texthelp. We believe that literacy is every student’s passport to success. We create smart, user-friendly literacy and learning solutions, that provide the personalized support each student needs; through reading, writing, math and research features.
Booth #25
www.accesstext.org
The AccessText Network provides an easy way for Disability Service Providers to request textbook files from leading publishers on behalf of students with disabilities. Membership is free.
Booth #8
www.acscaptions.com
The mission of Alternative Communication Services (ACS) is to provide the highest quality voice-to-text and sign language services possible, delivering these services to consumers throughout the world, and recognizing the unique strengths of each individual in the process.
Booth #27
www.automaticsync.com
Quality matters. Automate the process, keep the learning. CaptionSync by AST was developed more than fourteen years ago, in collaboration with a team of expert advisers from higher education and with funding from an SBIR grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Today AST’s CaptionSync service is the most cost-efficient, high quality, transcription, captioning and audio description service available.
Booth #10
www.beelinereader.com/education
Color is the new black. BeeLine Reader is a startup that has developed an alternative text format that helps many readers with dyslexia, ADHD, and various vision impairments. This approach uses line-wrapping color gradients, which pull the readers’ eyes through the text. Independent educational testing has shown strong benefits for reading fluency and reading comprehension, and vision experts at Stanford Medical School and UC Berkeley School of Optometry recommend BeeLine Reader to patients. BeeLine Reader is a social-impact focused startup that has won awards from Stanford University, NewSchools Venture Fund, and The Tech Museum of Innovation. BeeLine Reader was recently recognized at the UN Solutions Summit for its impact in accessibility and education.
Booth #31
www.crawfordtech.com
Crawford Technologies is an award-winning, global provider of software solutions for the transformation, manipulation and validation of customer communication data in multiple output channels. We offer a range of services and solutions enabling our enterprise clients to deliver communications such as bills and statements as well as marketing and business documents in accessible format for their blind and partially-sighted customers. CrawfordTech’s mission is to ensure that all companies are in compliance with global accessibility legislation. Using our revolutionary software architecture, MasterONE, we are helping banks, insurance and utility companies and telecoms and healthcare providers achieve this goal. At CrawfordTech we believe in a world where “every document is an accessible document.”
Booth #1
https://dinolytics.com
Powered by WAVE. Web Accessibility evaluation powered by WAVE, built for higher ed. We partnered with WebAIM to create a simple to use, impactful enterprise, web accessibility scanning platform.
Booth #22
www.docsoft.com
Liberating Speech. Docsoft is a software development company that specializes in providing an in house solution for captioning your content. Through our “appliance” solution Docsoft can automatically transcribe, time code and provide a unique way of captioning your content for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Booth #2
www.essentialaccessibility.com
eSSENTIAL Accessibility is a digital accessibility solutions provider. We offer a comprehensive digital accessibility solution to help organizations enhance the digital experience for customers with disabilities, remain compliant with standards and regulations, and project an inclusive and disability-friendly only presence.
Booth #4
www.eyetoeyenational.org
Unlocking greatness in the 1 in 5 who learn differently. Eye to Eye is a national, award-winning mentoring program for students with learning and attention issues. We train high school and college students with learning differences, including dyslexia and ADHD, to mentor similarly-identified middle school students. We are an easy-to-implement social-emotional intervention with high-impact results.
Booth #30
www.accessibilityassociation.org
The mission of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) is to define, promote and improve the accessibility profession globally through networking, education and certification in order to enable the creation of accessible products, content and services. Higher Education is our fastest growing segment within our membership. We have developed a Higher Education Community of Practice and developed specific programs and resources to assist in implementing an accessibility strategy campus-wide.
Booth #6
www.kurzweiledu.com
Kurzweil Education: Learning without boundaries, without barriers. Developing the ability to independently access any content on any device is an important skill for students with learning differences. Our products, k1000 for students with blindness or low vision, and k3000 for students with learning difficulties, unlocks their potential to access curriculum materials, build literacy and accessibility skills, and make real academic progress.
Booth #5
www.levelaccess.com
Level Access provides award-winning digital accessibility solutions to over 1,000 organizations. Level Access’s mission is to ensure technology is accessible to people with disabilities and the growing aging population.
Booth #26
www.matchware.com
MatchWare is a global leader in assistive technology. The “MindView” software is a visual learning tool designed to help students develop ideas visually and then export into different MS Office/Google formats.
Booth #18
www.notetakingexpress.com
Note Taking Express is a specialist note taking company which delivers bullet point notes through their web-based software platform NTEHub. Students can then use their audio or video recordings to prepare a full essay or revision notes using NTEHub Writer.
Booth #20
www.sComm.com
sComm is the manufacturer of the UbiDuo 2 communication device. The UbiDuo 2 enables deaf, hard of hearing and hearing individuals to communicate with each other face-to-face anywhere on campus when the interpreter is not available. The UbiDuo 2 allows deaf or hard of hearing people to interact freely with hearing people anywhere, anytime, in the work and social settings on campus.
Booth #3
www.sensusaccess.com
SensusAccess - Alternate Media Made Easy. Promoting independence and self-sufficiency amongst students with disabilities, SensusAccess® is a self-service solution that automates the conversion of documents into a range of alternative formats including Braille, MP3, Daisy, digital large-print and e-books in 20+ languages. SensusAccess also converts inaccessible and tricky documents into more accessible formats. Subject to a service agreement, SensusAccess can be accessed directly, through LTI plug-ins to popular learning management systems and through a web API.
Booth #29
www.spellex.com
Since 1988, Spellex has been a global leader in Assistive Technology solutions by providing corporations, government, and academia with high-quality and cost-effective AT solutions. Spellex’s flagship product, Spellex Write-Assist provides students and professionals with dyslexia and other communication disorders the tools necessary to improve their spelling and literacy.
Booth #7
www.tfaconsulting.com
Making Technology Accessible for Everyone. Tech for All is an international accessibility and universal design consulting firm serving educational institutions, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, small companies and Fortune 500 corporations. Tech for All’s sole mission is to help its clients successfully address the challenges of making their products, services, websites, kiosks, and mobile apps accessible for all, including people with disabilities. TFA offers a broad range of accessibility support services including training, planning, evaluation, remediation, implementation, and monitoring.