- Week 1 (1/3): Introduction to Accessibility
- Week 2 (1/10): Accessibility Assessment 1: Guidelines and Assessment
- Week 3 (1/17): Accessibility Assessment 2: Tradeoffs and Advanced Methods
- Week 4 (1/24): Accessible Needfinding and Evaluation
- Week 5 (1/31): AT Around us Presentations + AR/VR
- Week 6 (2/7): Data Equity
- Week 7 (2/14): Final Project Proposals
- Week 8 (2/21): Making Accessibility: Fabrication and Physical Computing
- Week 9 (2/28): Accessibility in Games and Chronic Illness
- Week 10 (3/7): Sustainability, Urban Access and Housing
- Finals week: Final presentations 3/14, 5:30pm
- # Module 1: Accessibility Basics
Week 1 (1/3): Introduction to Accessibility
Learning Goals
- What is Accessibility? Disability?
- What is the difference between Disability studies, Disability Justice; and various models of disability
- History of disability rights
- Understand models for disability-centered design
Class Plan
- 5:30-6:20 Introduction to Accessibility & Disability
- Slides Introduction to Accessibility
- 6:20-6:40
- Break / Food
- 6:40-7:50 In-class Activities
- Slides In Class Activities
- Skill Goal: Learn how accommodations can make a meeting more inclusive
- In class Exercise Put your accommodation needs into PollEverywhere; discuss what comes up and what else might be relevant
- Small Group Discussion How would you implement this in your workplace? (post on Ed)
- Skill Goal: Analyze a piece of technology from a Disability Rights perspective
- Small Group Discussion Analysis of the iPhone (post on Ed)
- Skill Goal: Analyze a topic from a disability justice perspective
- Small Group Discussion Analyze masking from a disability justice perspective (post on Ed)
- 7:50-8:00
- Break
- 8:00-8:20 Overview of course
- Slides Introduction to Course
Introduction to course syllabus & assignments
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Disability Justice Homework Assigned: Pick an access topic and analyze it from a disability justice perspective.
- Readings for next week
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Required: Reading AND Preparation by start of class. Respond to the reading questions by start of class and Preparation requirements on Ed.
- Come to next class prepared to use either switch control, a screen reader, or magnification on your phone.
- Accessibility Testing: Read The importance of Manual Accessibility Testing and Respond on Ed
- Come to next class prepared with an image you found on the web that does not have ALT text
- ALT text: Read about image alt text and watch It’s complicated and Respond on Ed
- Audio Description: Read What is audio description? from The Audio Description Project and Respond on Ed
- Optional
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Required: Reading AND Preparation by start of class. Respond to the reading questions by start of class and Preparation requirements on Ed.
Week 2 (1/10): Accessibility Assessment 1: Guidelines and Assessment
- Come Prepared
- Come to class with an image, diagram, or other graphic you want to describe; Be prepared (install and try out) one of: switch control, a screen reader, or magnification on your phone
Learning Goals
- What are the current accessibility standards
- Get comfortable with basic image description (images, people)
- How do we use automated tools to assess accessibility
- How can we use accessibility technology to assess accessibility
- Get comfortable using existing freely available accessibility technology to support assessment
Class Plan
- 5:30-6:00 Introduction to Assessing Accessibility & Practice
- Slides Assessing Accessibility
- Skill Goal: Image Description
- In class Exercise Break into small groups and show each other the inaccessible images you found. Work on a short and long description appropriate to your image type. (post on Ed)
- 6:20-6:40
- Break / Food
- 6:40-7:40 More about Assessment
- Digging deeper into assignments and assessment skills
- Guidelines 1.1, 1.2, and Automated Assessment
- Slides Continue Assessing Accessibility Cont…
- Skill Goal: Automated Assessment
- In class Exercise Use WebAIM Wave to assess the Seattle Public Schools Website (Post a UAR on Ed
- 7:40-7:50
- Break
- Guidelines 1.3, 1.4, and Manual Assessment
- Slides Continue Assessing Accessibility Cont…
- Skill Goal: Use Accessibility Technologies to assess the same website
- Slides Assessing Accessibility Cont…
In class Exercise Break into small groups. Each pick one of the following and try out the website
- Screen reader
- Switch input
- Magnification
Try to find something you didn’t find with an automated tool. (Post a UAR on Ed)
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Website/app accessibility Assigned: Assess and write a report
- Readings for next week
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Required Readings: Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed
- Read: Comparison of different methods for accessibility testing Mateus etal, 2021 and Respond on Ed
- Read: About how web semantics are conveyed to screen readers and Respond on Ed
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If you want to dig deeper
- Watch: Google Video on Practical Web Accessibility — this video provides a great overview of the Web and how to make web content accessible. Highly recommended as a supplement to what we will cover in class.
- Watch: Latte: Use-Case and Assistive-Service Driven Automated Accessibility Testing Framework for Android and read Lies, Damned Lies, Overlays, and Widgets
- Read: Semantics for Eye tracking
- Watch: Rescribe: Authoring and Automatically Editing Audio Descriptions
- Read: Is your web page accessible? A comparative study of methods for assessing web page accessibility for the blind
Week 3 (1/17): Accessibility Assessment 2: Tradeoffs and Advanced Methods
Learning Goals
- What are the tradeoffs between different tools?
- Beginning to look at study design by example
- More advanced accessibility techniques
- Differences between Image description, Diagram description and UI description
- Video description & Captioning
- Math, Tables & other elements (including custom interactors)
- Navigation and its impact on Accessibility; how to set up proper header structures.
Class Plan
- 5:30-6:00 Comparison of Accessibility Assessment Approaches
- Slides Assessing Accessibility: Comparing Techniques
- Discussion: Value of Cumulative Assessment
- In class Exercise Find the students who assessed the same website as you. Talk about the UARs you generated. Did you find different problems from other students? Why do you think you did, or did not, find different problems? Post your discussion notes to the Ed Thread for your website.
- 6:20-6:40
- Break / Food
- 6:40-7:40 Best Practices for Improving Accessibility
- Slides Best Practices: Improving Accessibility
- Skill Goal: Video description
- In class Exercise Break into small groups. Pick a video from youdescribe.org and work on a description as a group. (post a link to your video on Ed)
- 7:40-7:50
- Break
- In Class Work Time
- Finish your video description and post it. If done early, work on your website writeup.
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Readings for next week
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Required Readings Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed
- Read Anticipate and Adjust Respond on Ed
- Read Blurring the Boundaries Between Assistive Tech and Companionship Respond on Ed
- Read Disability Dongles by Liz Jackson and Respond on Ed
- If you want to dig deeper
Week 4 (1/24): Accessible Needfinding and Evaluation
Learning Goals
- How to present accessibly
- How to write using plain language
- How to assess whether a technology is accessible; and whether an accessibility technology is useful and usable, in an inclusive fashion.
- How do you make sure your product is accessible to people with disabilities
- Data Equity and implicit bias
- Beyond automated assessment: Accessible Summative Studies
- Importance of Intersectionality
- How do you make sure your accessibility technology is valued by people with disabilities
- What are potential data sources for assessing value
- Collaboration Versus Paternalism
- Overly narrow views of disability: Multiple disabled people & multiply disabled people
Class Plan
- 5:30-6:15 Introduction to Accessible Evaluation
- Slides Assessing Accessibility
- 6:15-6:25 Practice Study Design
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Amazon Alexa
- Write down a list of accessibility assessment goals (metrics)
- Write down a sampling goal (who is included)
- Discuss
- 6:25-6:40
- Break / Food
- 6:30-7:30 Slides & Discussion:
- Slides Designing for and with people with disabilities
Discussion of Disability Dongle Paper
- 7:30-7:40 First Person Accounts
- Introduction to Finding Accessibility
- 7:40-7:50
- 7:50-8:20 Work on Assignment
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Finding Accessibility Assigned: Summarize a first person account of an access technology
- Post-module Reflection: Accessibility Basics Reflection
- Readings for next week
- Required Readings Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed
- # Module 2: Second Wave Accessibility
Week 5 (1/31): AT Around us Presentations + AR/VR
Learning Goals
Class Plan
- Presentations
- Accessibility Assessment Assignment
- 7:00-7:10
- Break / Food
- AR/VR
- Slides AR/VR
: try out Jon’s tool hopefully
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Readings for next week
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Required: Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed
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Optional
- Areas of Strategic Visibility: Disability Bias in Biometrics
- The Future of Urban Accessibility for People with Disabilities: Data Collection, Analytic, Policy, and Tools
- Explaining Explanations: An Approach to Evaluating Interpretability of Machine Learning
- Rich Screen Reader Experiences for Accessible Data Visualization
- VoxLens: Making Online Data Visualizations Accessible With an Interactive JavaScript Plug-In
Week 6 (2/7): Data Equity
Learning Goals
- Bias in Machine Learning
- What is Machine Learning (ML)?
- What are the components of ML?
- How do we collect data? Who do we collect the data from?
- Is the data “good”?
- How do we minimize disability bias?
- Accessible Data Visualizations
- What are the commonly-used techniques to make data visualizations accessible?
- What are the pros and cons of these techniques?
- What are some of the nuances in making data visualizations accessible?
Class Plan
- 5:35-6:20 Bias in Machine Learning
- Slides Bias in Machine Learning
- 6:20-6:30 Break / Food
- 6:30-7:20 Accessible Data Visualizations
- Slides Accessible Data Visualizations
- 7:20-7:30 Break
- 7:30-8:20 Discussion with Guest:
- Matthew Butler
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Final Project presentation preparation
Week 7 (2/14): Final Project Proposals
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Readings for next week
- Required: Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed
Week 8 (2/21): Making Accessibility: Fabrication and Physical Computing
Class Plan
- Fabrication and Accessibility
- Slides Introduction to 3D Printing and Physical Computing
In-class exercise: Creating a laser cut accessibility aid. Steps are:
- Create an SVG (can use powerpoint for this; will demonstrate) & make sure it has an appropriate size in mm
- Print it on paper and cut it out to double check
- Provide it to Jen for laser cutting
- Sand and/or assemble your object
Example Objects
Some examples of things that one can laser cut which serve an accessibility purpose
- a cookbook, or book, stand (https://bookriot.com/accessories-for-accessible-reading/)
- A pillbox https://www.etsy.com/listing/1318967359/wooden-pill-box-pill-case-pill-organizer; make with https://www.festi.info/boxes.py/
- A one handed cutting board https://smile.amazon.com/Parsons-ADL-61-0200-Cutting-Board/
I’m also thinking about having them use fusion360 or something else to make something a little more shapely (I’m assuming these are all out of scope for you, but please correct me if I’m wrong)
- a jar opener https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40131; https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2801157
- keyboard tray tilters https://www.amazon.com/SUPBEE-Universal-Computer-Keyboard-Ventilated
- neck mounted cup holder https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1863196 or possibly a laser cut one https://www.dxfdownloads.com/cup-holder-laser-wood/
- ipad keyguard: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1365497
- key handle https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2802082
- https://www.instructables.com/Making-a-laser-cut-bag-holder/
- something to hold a book open (https://www.etsy.com/listing/883330413/book-buddy-book-holder-wood-thumb-page)
- phidget spinners https://www.instructables.com/Laser-Cut-MDF-Fidget-Spinner/
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Required: Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed. There is only one Ed post you need to make this week in response to either or both assigned readings. Please post your response in this Ed thread.
- # Module 3: Third Wave Accessibility
Week 9 (2/28): Accessibility in Games and Chronic Illness
Class Plan:
- 5:30-6:20 Accessibility in Games and Interactive Media
- guest lecturer: Jesse Martinez
- 6:20-6:30
- Break / Food
- 6:30-7:30
- Accessibility in Chronic Illness: guest lecturers: Emma McDonnell and Kelly Mack
- 7:30-8:30
- Group project check ins (you can leave if your group is meeting with Jen at a different time)
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- Required: Respond to the Reading Questions and Preparation Requirements on Ed. There is only one Ed post you need to make this week. Please post your response in this Ed thread.
- Optional Readings
Week 10 (3/7): Sustainability, Urban Access and Housing
Class Plan
- 5:30-6:30 Traumatic Brain Injury and Incarceration
- guest lecturer: Mark Harniss
- 6:30-6:45
- Break / Food
- 6:45- ~8:00
- Slides Sustainability and Accessibility
- 7:30-8:30
- Group project check ins (you can leave if your group is meeting with Jen at a different time)
Preparation for next week
- Class Participation survey
- End of Module survey
Finals week: Final presentations 3/14, 5:30pm
- Final project presentations