>>Sheryl: My name is Sheryl Burgstahler
and I direct Accessible Technology Services at the
University of Washington in Seattle.
Our services also reach out to our branch campuses in Bothell and Tacoma.
>>Hadi: My name is Hadi Rangin and I’m a member of the IT Accessibility Team
at the University of Washington.
>>Narrator: Hadi’s an accessibility expert, and he's also a user of accessible technology.
He uses a refreshable Braille display and screen reading software
that reads everything on the screen.
>>Hadi: I am blind and I use a screen reader program
at home and here, everywhere.
A screen reader program is software that communicates with the operating system
and conveys the information to me.
[screen reader reads fast]
>>Hadi: Even if you are reading as a sighted person,
you do not read every content at the same speed.
Right? Sometimes you have to make a pause and
then review what you have read and then digest the information.
For us it's the same thing.
When we are reading, for example, normal conversation we can read it very fast.
But when we are reading technical content then we go a little slower.
We make more pauses.
>>Screen reader: Accessible University. One.
>>Hadi: I have slowed down my screen reader program.
>>Screen reader: Banner. Heading level one graphic Accessible University.
Banner end.
>>Hadi: But if it is, for example, about email I can go...
>>Screen reader: Faster faster faster faster faster
[so fast that audio becomes unintelligible].
>>Hadi: I can go that fast.
>>Narrator: But it’s not enough for Hadi to have a screen reader.
Websites must be designed accessibly in order for the screen reader to provide a full experience of the webpage.
>>Hadi: I would like to show you two pages that are visually pretty much consistent, identical.
But one of them is accessible. One of them is not accessible. You will see in an inaccessible page how
difficult it is when those accessibility features are not present.
>>Hadi: This is the...
>>Screen reader: Accessible University
>>Hadi: This is the accessible version of a fictional university that we have developed here.
We call that Accessible University. Here for example, on this accessible page,
I can ask my screen reader to show me the major components of the page.
>>Screen reader: Document Regions Dialog. Regions tree view.
>>Hadi: It tells me we have a banner section.
>>Screen reader: Main menu navigation
>>Hadi: We have a main menu section...
>>Screen reader: Main
>>Hadi: And the main body...
>>Screen reader: Apply Now form.
>>Hadi: There is another region...
>>Screen reader: content information
>>Hadi: and content information which is the same as footer section.
So assuming the page has been developed correctly,
I have good idea about the major components of the page.
>>Hadi: Let me now go to see this page, the inaccessible version of this page.
>>Screen reader: Home Page, Accessible University
>>Hadi: This looks pretty much the same as the other one, the accessible version
but here when I ask my screen reader to convey the major components...
>>Screen reader: No region found
>>Hadi: It said "no region found."
So for me, practically, I have to read from top to bottom.
If those accessibility features are not present, everything has the same weight.
So we do not, there is no way for us to say that
where a major section starts or
where it ends.
It is really not just the fact reading the content, it is also about navigation.
We have to discover the page
and then that is the most time-consuming problem.
Once you know where you are, what you are reading,
then it is usually fine.
But the discovery process or navigation process
is the most complicated process in an accessibility field.
In order to do it I have to read from top to bottom.
Whereas in the accessible version, I could easily see what the major components were
and then select the desired ones and move to that section quickly.
>>Screen reader: Leaving menus. Heading List dialog. Headings List view.
>>Hadi: Headings is also a means to get information
about the structure of the content.
It gives me a good understanding, a good overview, about
the major or minor components of the content.
So I see that here...
>>Screen reader: Welcome 2. Featured Stories Slideshow 2. Accessible University 1.
>>Hadi: Accessible University itself is a Heading 1 and under that we have...
>>Screen reader: Feature Stories.
>>Hadi: Feature Stories, which is Heading 2. It automatically conveys the information that this section is a subsection of the
heading above.
You know you will see also that overall get an outline
of the page and the major sections of that.
That is the difference between accessible and inaccessible.
>>Sheryl: That screen reader can only access the text that's presented on the screen
and so if someone just scans in a document and puts an image up on their website
that screen reader is not going to be able to read that content.
And so the web developer in that case needs to know to create all their materials
so that they're accessible to a screen reader, in other words
so they can access the text for that screen reader to read it aloud
to a person who's blind.
>>Screen reader: Enter. Message from. Hi All.
>>Sheryl: It’s essential that people with disabilities
have access to assistive technology but that’s not the end of the story.
In order for them to be effective users of technology,
the technology that other people develop like websites and software and PDF files and so forth
must be designed in such a way that they can use it with their assistive technology.
.