Post on 01-Jan-2016
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Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
You can’t buy love but you can buy accessibility
• Brief intro of accessibility drivers• Overview of standards• Procurement – where rubber meets the road• Case studies• Tools and rubrics• Wrap-up
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Why advocate…for accessible technology purchases? The power of the purse is strong and gets attention!
• Humanitarian reasons
• Market forces
• Legal obligations
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Image of 9-year old girl in home made super girl costume, arms crossed, goggles on, looking determined!Because we can!
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
The Market
• Disability is age related• Numbers of customers, employees, citizens, and
students with disabilities is on the rise.
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Disability Market is Growing• Fortune: “$1 trillion annual market”• $200 B in discretionary spending• 55 million Americans• 750 million worldwide• More as population ages
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
The Legal Mandate
Legal obligations under civil rights laws, Section 508, state laws, local statutes, ADA, IDEA,No Child Left Behind…many more
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Legal scrutiny increasing
• Series of legal actions by National Federation of the Blind and other disability advocates• Courts are ruling in their favor• Higher Ed decisions in Pennsylvania, California, Texas,
others• Civil rights decisions that have impact on retailers –
Target, Priceline, Amazon, Major League Baseball, others• K-12 parents and advocacy groups considering legal
obligation to ensure “access to the curriculum”• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is being extended
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
But how to meet these obligations?
• Commitment to a standard• Section 508• WCAG2 from the Web Accessibility Initiative of the W3C• State and local laws• Internal standards
• Explicit Policy• Strategy
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Develop clear policy
• Default policy may be Section 508• Customize as needed• Ensure highest level of support• Provide training all along chain of command
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Strategic support
• Accessibility awareness• Communication to decision makers• Skills training• Process creation• Development of appropriate procurement language (RFPs)• Evaluation methodologies (Tools and Rubrics)• Integration into processes
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Procurement – the buck stops here!
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Four case studies
• Public Utility Company• Statewide University System• Independent School District• Online ticket sales
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Public Utility Company• Losing customers due to
inaccessible web site• Public needed “Power to
Choose” services• Web based applications
from 3rd parties
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Public Utility Company• Losing customers due to
inaccessible web site• Public needed “Power to
Choose” services• Web based applications
from 3rd parties
• Hired outside consulting services to audit and train for web site improvements • Purchased enterprise level
auto-testing tool to maintain accessibility• Put contract language in
place for 3rd party vendors.• Use consulting services
and auto tests to validate
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Statewide University System
• Legal action brought on behalf of students with disabilities statewide.• Claimed that new technologies were creating two-tiered
system and many were being left out• Courts ruled in favor of the students, University System
had to respond
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Result: Accessible Technology Initiative• Huge incentive for vendors to meet requirements• All RFPs, all technology purchases put through the lens of
accessibility• VPATs were required and verified• Defined by explicit policy• Vendors who did not comply were given time to modify• ATI Procurement Resources
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Independent School District
• Grant funded program to serve underperforming students with disabilities• Needed credit recovery features of online curriculum
products
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Pedagogical Incentive
• Differentiated Instruction• Universal Design for Learning• Computer based curricula• Need for accessibility…but how to identify?Illustration of delighted young boy at the computer
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Alphabet Fire hose: Image of fire hose shooting out initials of regulations, including ADA, NCLB, 504, 508, etc.
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
The defining document: RFP
• Along with adherence to academic standards, security requirements and bi-lingual needs, the RFP stated:“The district is seeking computer-based curriculum products that fully meet state and federal mandates for accessibility…” and went on to ask for description of how vendor would meet absolute requirements.
• Of the 6 respondents, two were eliminated for failure to meet absolute requirements.• Read the RFP at http://wiki/knowbility.org/ Under the
“procurement” tab.
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Phase One
10 evaluators used to score the company responses•Network Systems and Support•Tech Ed Department •Twilight Program for Credit Recovery•Middle school teacher with computer based curriculum (CBC) experience•6 high school teachers with CBC experience
Members of AT Team looked at absolute requirements.Phase One Rubric
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Phase Two
Three rubrics used as four remaining companies made live presentations:1.Instructional Specifications Nine instructional evaluators completed rubric2.Technical Specifications Two tech evaluators (one from NSS, one from AT)3.Accessibility Specifications One external accessibility expert contracted
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Phase Three
Three rubrics were created for Phase 3 evaluation: 1.Instructional Specifications2.Administrative Specifications 3.Accessibility Specifications
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Phase Three included trial use of products • Two companies were chosen and provided trial access to
students.• Both given same information about trial length and
expectations.• Student trial access to product provided. • AISD provided vendors with access to instructional,
administrative and technical support. • Teachers completed rubric based on student feedback.• Summary meeting reviewed trial outcomes.
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Neither met accessibility requirements• Based on scores in other categories, negotiations began
with Compass Learning Systems• Negotiations were difficult and came close to break
down because of fear and misunderstanding• Finally reached agreement for three year remediation
plan.• Contract is renewable annually based on successful
achievement of milestones• Compass was part of ATIA presentation in Orlando and
Florida
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Thought experiment: Online ticket sales• New ADA regulations went into effect March 15th 2011
requiring equal access to ticket sales• Most performance venues use 3rd party vendors• None meet minimum accessibility standards
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Additional tools • VPAT• BuyAccessible.gov• Wiki/knowbility.org has detail of the Austin ISD
documents, including RFP and rubrics• VPAT Validator – series of questions to validate VPAT
responses• Samples of procurement language from the National
Center on Disability and Education.• Free web accessibility checking tools include:• Web Accessibility Toolbar for IE• Web Accessibility Extension for Firefox• FireEyes Extension from Deque Systems• The WAVE from WebAIM
Creative Commons – some rights reserved You Can’t Buy Love, You Can Buy Accessibility
Wrap-up
• Your questions• Materials available on the Knowbility wiki • Stay in touch!• Accessibility_SIG Google Group
Thank- you – you make all the difference!Jan McSorley Sharron Rush
mcsorleyjan@gmail.com srush@knowbility.org
512 305-0310