These include, but are not limited to, hard of hearing and deafness.
Summary of Best Practices
- Use images and diagrams, audio and video to support textual content
- Use transcripts and captions for audio and video content
- Provide descriptive and informative headings
- Provide descriptive and informative links
- Follow a linear and logical layout; don’t create busy layouts
- Use proper semantics (e.g. paragraphs, headings, lists, tables)
- Keep content short, clear and simple; use simple sentences and lists
- Use plain English, not figures of speech or idioms; define your jargon first
- Provide alternative options to telephone for contact information
References
Usage & Assistive Technologies
- WAI: How People with Disabilities Use the Web – Auditory
- Web AIM: Auditory Disabilities
- Web AIM: Captions and Transcripts
Simulations
- Rhett & Link Demo: Caption Fails Playlist
- User Simulation: Cochlear implant: simulation on speech and music
- Cochlear Implant Research Laboratory: What a Cochlear Implant sounds like
Resolution Agreements & Lawsuits
Articles mentioned here specifically include institutions of higher education in resolution agreements or lawsuits. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) documents are provide to define the concerns reported.
- (March 6, 2017) Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed. Berkeley Will Delete Online Content.
- (March 1, 2017) Public Affairs, UC Berkeley. Campus message on Course Capture video podcast changes.
- (March 2, 2016) 3PlayMedia. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Accessibility Requirements for Video.
- (February 12, 2015) The New York Times. Harvard and M.I.T. are Sued over Lack of Closed Captions.
- (March 10, 2014) OCR. University of Montana-Missoula Resolution Agreement.
- (September 27, 2013) Inside Higher Ed. Questionable Captions.
- (March 8, 2013) U.S. Department of Education. Civil Rights Agreement Reached with South Carolina Technical College System on Accessibility of Websites to People with Disabilities.
- (February 28, 2013) OCR. South Carolina Technical College System (SCTCS) Resolution Agreement.