You may encounter students, instructors, or coworkers using a wide variety of accessibility tools. You likely use some yourself every day without realizing it—did you know that typewriters, touch screens, electric toothbrushes, audiobooks and video captions were all originally developed for disabled users?
When creating documents and web sites, it is important to use proper heading structure, alternative text, and tables so that a screen reader will navigate the document in the correct order. The technologies should be considered by staff and faculty as you create content for our students and community members or purchase software for District use.
When purchasing software for use by students, staff or faculty, it is important to ask for an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), which is often referred to as a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template). The distinction is that the VPAT is the incomplete form, and the ACR is the completed report using the VPAT template. The template was developed by the U.S. federal government as part of its own procurement policies, and has become the standard for documenting product compliance with accessibility law.
District-purchased software should be screen-reader accessible and 100% keyboard accessible, and text should remain readable when magnified or "zoomed" up to 200%. Contact the appropriate Accessibility staff (Distance Ed for instructional, IT's Online Accessibility Coordinator for non-instructional) for more information and guidance.
Screen Readers
Screen readers are programs that allow blind or visually impaired users to read digital text, using a speech synthesizer or braille display. They have also become widely adopted by users with auditory processing issues, traumatic brain injuries, or those who simply process information better in an audio format rather than a visual one. Some commonly mentioned screen readers include:
- JAWS (Job Access With Speech) — a commercial screen reader for Windows
- NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) — a free, open-source screen reader for Windows
- VoiceOver — built into Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems
- Narrator— built into Microsoft's recent Windows operating systems (not originally intended as a screen reader, it is more limited in its functionality — especially with browsers, optical character recognition, and in deeper levels of the Windows environment)
Magnification Systems
Screen magnification software allows users with low vision to enlarge portions of a screen to varying degrees—often with additional features like color inversion, cursor enhancement, and focus tracking. Some magnification programs also include built-in screen reading capabilities. Common options include:
- Magnifier — built into Windows
- Zoom — built into macOS
- ZoomText — a commercial magnification and screen reading program for Windows