Accessibility Forum Meeting

May 11, 2001

Gallaudet University

Agenda

Forum Planning Session Attendees

ADA expert, Inc.

AbleTV.net

Adobe.com

AFB

ALVA Access Group

American Council of the Blind

American Foundation for the Blind

AT&T

ATIA

X

BBN

Behavioral Implications Management

CAST

CESSI

Cingular Wireless

Common Ground Solutions

Compaq Computer Corp

Compusult

Conversay, Inc.

Forum Planning Session Attendees

Def. Info School

Diebold

Digital Access Corp.

Duke U.

ECCS, Inc.

Freedom Scientific

GA Technical College

Gallaudet University

Gateway Computer

Gateway Inc.

GeroTech

GSA

Hewlett Packard

HUD/ECCS, Inc.

iamdigix.net

IBM

IDEAL at NCR Corp.

Inclusive Technologies

ITAA

ITI

ITTATC

J.L. Mueller, Inc.

Keyboard Alt. & Vision Solutions

Forum Planning Session Attendees

Microsoft Corp.

MITRE

Motorola

NAD

NAD Law Center

NASA

Nat. Industries for the Blind

NCITS

NCITS-V2

NCR

NIST

NSA

OMB

Oracle Corporation

PA Initiative on Assistive Technology

Panasonic

PSInet Accessibility Center of Excel.

RESNA

SAP

SAS Institute Inc.

SHARE, Inc

SHHH

SSB Technologies

Forum Planning Session Attendees

Sun Microsystems

TCS Associates

Telecommunication For Deaf

The Disability Network

Trace R&D Center

U.S. Access Board

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Dept of Education

U.S. Dept of Justice

United Cerebral Palsey Assn

VRI

Wayne State University

Xerox Corporation

Accessibility Forum Overview

Jack Corley

Bill Hetzner

May 11 Accessibility Forum Meeting Goal

To provide an overview of the Accessibility Forum and to announce the launch of efforts aimed at assisting the government in making informed decisions about Section 508 related procurement.

Section 508

Electronic and Information Technologies (E&IT) accessible for persons with disabilities.

Applies to all federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain or use E&IT.

Section 508 Technical Assistance

General Services Administration and the Access Board

Directed to provide technical assistance to individuals and federal agencies.

The Accessibility Forum is a key component of GSA strategy to provide technical assistance

Question:  How to know when a particular product meets Section 508 requirements? 

Goals for GSA Sponsorship of Accessibility Forum

Establish a collaboration among stakeholders affected by Section 508.

Develop effective and broad acceptance of tools for Section 508 requirements.

Foster Forum growth and gain stakeholder leadership.

Contribution Criteria

I believe that you understand my point of view.

I believe that I understand your point of view.

Whether or not I prefer this decision, I will support it because it was reached in an open and equitable way.

Accessibility Forum
Mission Statement

            The Accessibility Forum is an ongoing collaboration among stakeholders affected by Section 508 including user, industry, government, and other communities in order to benefit employees and members of the public with disabilities.

            The Forum will identify, prioritize and conduct projects that assist government in making informed decisions about Section 508 related procurement, and allow government, industry, and users to communicate and highlight areas where further effort is needed.

Accessibility Forum Stakeholders

Industry represented by associations and by companies

E&IT Vendors of Software and O/S; Web-based; Telecommunications; Video and Multimedia; Self-contained; PCs

Assistive Technology Vendors of products like screen readers; Voice recognition; Voice enhancers; and Mobility interface

Users

Represented by Advocacy Groups for Visual, Hearing/Speech, Physical, and Cognitive Disabilities

U.S. Government Agencies

Project Philosophy

Bring together a multi-disciplinary project team facilitated by Forum staff.

Involve industry and user community on the project team and in project management to:

Assure effectiveness.

Gain broad acceptance.

Demonstrate that results are usable and validate effectiveness.

Project Operational Concept

A project working group maintains ongoing dialogues with:

Accessibility Forum on project progress, results, issues.

Stakeholder communities to gain feedback and broad acceptance of project results.

Projects will:

Use consistent process with well-defined milestones and deliverables refined by Forum.

Wherever possible, take advantage of existing mechanisms, standards, and guidelines.

Project Results Are Broadly Deployed

Forum promotes general acceptance of the process and results by:

Vendor community

User community

Results are documented in a clear, consistent form.

Who is the Accessibility Forum?

People who

Represent significant stakeholders.

Act as gatekeepers:

For individual industry, user and government organizations

For industry, user and government communities – affinity groups.

Know what collaboration means and takes.

You have an opportunity to join!

Who is the Accessibility Forum Staff?

Organizational Resource.

Distributed Technology Management.

Facilitated face-to-face and virtual activities.

Technical Resource.

Communication and Collaboration tool Resource.

Includes Advanced Technology Institute, Arthur D. Little, ERIM, and GSA.

An Overview of Forum Work Efforts

presented by Bill Hetzner

User Requirements

User Abilities/Disabilities:

Visual, Hearing, Physical, Speech and any combination

Physical Setting:

Controlled, Public Sites

Library, Kiosk, ATM

Uncontrolled, Private Sites

Home, Business

Product Characteristics

Two important concepts:

Functional Characteristics.

Product Accessibility Features.

Examples of Functional Characteristics

Ability to display visual elements in more than one form.

Color coding, supporting text labels, pictorial representations, auditory

Ability to set and control the appearance of user interface elements.

Ability to display larger font sizes and choice of font styles

Ability to set controls On/Off, varying levels of comfort.

 Examples of Product Accessibility Features

CRT

Font: size, type and color

Color: background and shapes

Feedback mechanism

Touch operated controls

Keyboard

Ordering

Surface texture

Feedback mechanisms

Forum Processes

“Living” technical development plan that meets member organization requirements

Schedule defined and tracked by project

Regularly scheduled meetings and conference calls

Maximum use of electronic mail, Internet, and electronic bulletin boards

Robust website

Careful identification and management of risks

Role of the Project Team

Maintain ongoing dialogue with Forum about project progress and deliverables.

Gain general approval and broad acceptance of project results.

Take advantage of existing guidelines, efforts, products, and mechanisms.

Document results that can be used by government and industry to evaluate products against Section 508 requirements.

Summary

by Jack Corley

The Accessibility Forum is an ongoing collaboration among user, industry, government, and other communities’ stakeholders affected by Section 508 including in order to benefit employees and members of the public with disabilities.

The Forum will identify, prioritize and conduct projects that assist government in making informed decisions about Section 508 related procurement, and allow government, industry, and users to communicate and highlight areas where further effort is needed.

To be effective, stakeholder participation is needed.

Questions and Answers

Panel

Terry Weaver, Ed Reniker, Bill Hetzner, Jack Corley