This page is provided to attendees of the Arkansas Museums Association 2018 sessions I facilitated on 3/27 and 3/28 in Calico Rock, Arkansas. There is not a link to this page from the general menu so be sure to keep the link to it handy if you want to return. I have tried to add the extra resources that I promised but if anything is missing that I said I would add, drop me a note at mthornt@uark.edu. It was my pleasure to spend time with you. I hope you found the session beneficial to your work.
Access as a Civil Right: Disability Inclusion and the Role of Museums
HANDOUT: Access as a Civil Right (PDF)
Recommended reading:
Sandell, Richard, Jocelyn Dodd, and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
Introduction to Web Accessibility
HANDOUT: An Introduction to Web Accessibility (PDF)
NOTE: I failed to put my contact information on the handouts shared in the session. If you pass along to others, please use this version or add my name and email address to the one you have printed. Thank you!
Social Media Accessibility
Federal Social Media Accessibility Hackpad
Dropdown Menus
I’m sorry I blanked on sites to show you were dropdown menus do and do not work properly.
Two good examples:
- Explore Access: This site (duh) has dropdown menus that are accessible by tabbing through them.
- IAAP: This site has dropdown menus accessible by using a combination of tab and down arrows. Note that these only provide access when there is a visual indicator that a dropdown is present (e.g. the little down area to the right of the link name)
An inaccessible example:
- AMA’s site: Sadly the dropdown menus are not keyboard accessible. This Wild Apricot wish list post and request gives you an idea of their lack of commitment to making changes that will improve accessibility.
WordPress Help
- WordPress Accessibility Plugin
- WordPress Accessible Themes
- WordPress Accessibility: An Introduction for Editors and Authors
- Note: choosing an accessible theme and using the WP Accessibility Plugin will not solve the problem of inaccessible plugins and widgets. Those need to be tested separately.
More Testing Resources
Ten Accessibility Checks in 10 minutes
Keyboard Focus Indicator
I mentioned CSS code that is sometimes used to remove the little gray line around links and menus. Here is the specific CSS that is typically the culprit: a:focus{outline:none}
There are other variations, but this is the one I see most often. Why designers think it makes a site so much more attractive when they remove that, I have no idea… 🙂
WCAG 2.0
I talked about the general principles but WCAG 2.0 provides the specific guidelines that most institutions tend to adopt. The U of A, for example, has the expectation of meeting WCAG 2.0 Level AA. Learn more about WCAG.