Learn About Digital Accessibility & Inclusion from Educators

The topic of the #NYCSchoolsTechChat in May was hot to best provide inclusive digital content and environments for students and families. Members of the #NYCSchoolsTech community chimed in with powerful ideas and advice. Check out the Wakelet below to learn some of their insights.

Digital Accessibility & Inclusion Twitter Chat on Thursday, May 2nd

This month's #NYCSchoolsTechChat will give participants ideas for how they can create digitally accessible and inclusive environments for students and families. Participants can chat here, then come to our in-person Summit on digital accessibility and inclusion on May 23rd. Details are at tinyurl.com/NYCSchoolsDigInSummit. 

#NYCSchoolTech teacher Eileen Lennon moderates with me (Lisa) throwing in my two cents. 

You can prepare for the conversation by thinking about answers to these questions:

Q1 How would you explain the difference between accessible and inclusive? #NYCSchoolsTechChat #NYCSchoolsDigIn #DigitalEquityNow

Q2 What challenges are you facing in your classroom that get in the way of ensuring all of your students have digital access? #NYCSchoolsTechChat #NYCSchoolsDigIn

Q3 What approaches have you/your school implemented to address the problem? #NYCSchoolsTechChat #NYCSchoolsDigIn #DigitalEquityNow

Q4 The #NYCSchoolsTech Summit on Digital Inclusion will feature Google, Microsoft, Apple, Smart / Teq, and BrainPop. What are some ways these companies have made digital accessible for your students?

Q5 What are some ways your school could provide digital inclusion to all students? #NYCSchoolsTechChat #NYCSchoolsDigIn #DigitalEquityNow


Chat details are below:
Date: Thursday, May 2
Time: 7:00 pm
Topic: Digital Inclusion & Accessibility
Your Host: @eileen_lennon (@NYCSchools)
Co-Host: @InnovativeEdu (@NYCSchools)

Remember to respond using the hashtag #NYCSchoolsTechChat & #NYCSchoolsDigIn and include the number of the question you are answering in your response i.e. A1 and your answer.

Facebook Mentorship Program Supports Educators

Facebook has a mentorship program available to people within select groups with a focus on parenting, professional, or personal development. This means admins can offer this feature to members of their groups. Those who are members of groups using this feature, can offer or find support. Members can determine how much time they want to spend together and what goals you want to work towards.

Here’s how it works:

Group admins create a mentorship program

Admins can choose from a variety of template programs, such as career advancement, skill development, or encouragement and support, and select the one that best fits their community’s needs.

People sign up as a mentor/ mentee

Group members can sign up to be a mentor or a mentee then create a profile indicating what they’re looking for support with, or how they might be able to provide support. All group members can see these answers and start a mentorship conversation with you in Messenger.

Mentors:

• Explain what you can help with: Talk about strengths / skills.
• Be yourself: Mention a hobby or interest.
• Share why you want to help: Let people know what inspired you to do this.
• Reaching you: Indicate preferred ways and times to communicate.

Mentees:

• Share what you need help with: Talk about the kind of support you need.
• Be yourself: Mention a hobby or interest. It will help people to get to know you. 
• Describe what kind of mentor you need: Include qualities or specific kinds of experience that will help you.
• Reaching you: List your preferred ways and times to communicate.

Here is what happens each week

Week 1: Get to Know Each Other 

Introduce yourself and share what you hope to get out of this program. Discuss what will make this mentorship more successful like how you prefer to communicate and what your schedule is like. Tell each other about your current jobs. What do you love about it? What do you wish was different?

Week 2 – 7: Continue Getting to Know Each Other

During these weeks topics discussed include:

• What was your first job?
• What's a good piece of advice someone gave you?
• Describe a trip you took that was memorable.
• If you had a free day, how would you spend it?
• Talk about someone you admire
• What's something you've done that you're proud of?

Week 8: Identify Your Strengths

Make a list of your favorite and least inspiring parts of your work. Discuss ways your career can be aligned to interests.

Week 9: Setting Goals

What career goals fit your strengths? What small steps you can take to achieve your career goals.

Week 10: Making a Plan

Work with your mentor to identify what steps you need to take in order to achieve your goal in the ideal amount of time.

Week 11: Measuring Success

Take some time to reflect on your progress so far. Have you reached some of your goals?

Week 12: Celebrating Wins

Review all that you have accomplished together!

Your turn

What do you think? Is this something you would want to be a part of in a group in which you participate? How could you use this in your work? 

Accessibility vs Inclusion. What's the Difference?

The World Report on Disabilities says that 15% of the population today lives with some form of disability. If you're not in that 15% today, chances are you may be In the future. That's because in the years ahead, the prevalence of those with disabilities will rise as the population ages. In fact The Institute on Disability reports that more than 1/3 of those over 65 have a disability. 

It's the law

Making the world accessible to those with disabilities isn't just the right thing to do. For some it has become law. For example, in 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. More and more businesses are following this lead, not just for ethical reasons, but also because accessibility means more customers.

Defining accessibility

When accessibility is addressed, everyone can understand a space, integrate in it, and/or interact with its content. It lessens the burden for those needing accommodations to fully participate and engage. 

Those trying to address accessibility understand the importance of technology. In fact, in many cases, digital is what makes accessibility possible. There are numerous ways that technology can serve as the eyes, ears, hands, and mouth for those with disabilities. 

But creating with accessibility in mind, is just the beginning. 

From accessibility to inclusion

Accessibility and inclusion are closely related, but inclusion goes even further. This chart outlines what happens when we move from accessible to inclusive.

Accessibility	Inclusion
Opens the door to an equivalent experience.	Provides the same experience for all people.
Considers people with varying abilities and differences afterwards.	Includes those with varying abilities and differences before and during the design process.
Designs "for" those with differences.	Designs "with" those with differences.
Usually refers to accommodations for those with disabilities.	Designed for all people. Those with disabilities as well as those who speak other languages, observe different religions, make different lifestyle choices, and anything else.
Designing afterwards by making adaptations, retro-fitting, and/or creating new and specialized design.	Designing, from the beginning, products and environments that can be used by all people.
You must take extra steps to make something accessible.	You don't have to take extra steps to make something accessible. It is a design feature.
	Uses neutral language for example, avoid saying things like "all rise" and use gender neutral language.

A box is an accommodation to make viewing accessible. Removing the fence makes it inclusive.
Photo credit and a super interesting story from the photo's creator Craig Froehle.

Does Social Media Need To Step Up Its Accessibility Game?

Back in the 80s Tim Berners-Lee was launching the World Wide Web, Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had become the wealthiest person in the world, and Mark Zuckerberg was busy being born. 

Fast forward a few decades and all these formerly young-spry tech-preneurs are aging. Even Zuckerberg will age out of the young professional category in a few years.

Source: Rehabilitation Research and Training Center
on Disability Statistics and Demographics

Technology was not designed by or for those with disabilities. However, as the population ages, whether it's visual, auditory, cognitive, or physical, their likelihood of acquiring, or having those close to them acquiring, a disability increases. 

Designing for all should be "a part of," not "apart from" the development process. But is it? Is accessibility baked into to the development process? 

Let's take a look by looking at social media examples.

Twitter

 You must take ten steps too many on Twitter to use alt text. 

Their site says: 

When you Tweet photos using the Twitter app for iOS or Android, or on twitter.com, you have the option to compose a description of the images so the content is accessible to people who are visually impaired.

Who wouldn't want content to be accessed by people who are visually impaired? This should be a feature, not an option.

Twitter has not stepped up its accessibility game. 

Facebook

Facebook is a bit better. It auto generates alt text using object recognition. However, to customize the alt text, it still takes too many steps. 

The steps to add captions are too complicated. Rather than go through a confusing list of steps, captions should be auto-generated, then users should be able to go in and edit them.

Facebook has work to do in their accessibility game.

Instagram

Facebook purchased Instagram, so it's no surprise, that they also auto generate text that can be customized. However, like Facebook, rather than bake in the customized alt text option, you must navigate your way to it. 

Adding captions. Not so easy. This article takes you through the process while acknowledging what a hassle it is.

Instagram needs to step up their accessibility game.

And the award goes to...

SnapChat

The least accessible of these social media platforms is SnapChat. There's even a user who started a petition to bring attention to the issue. USAGov provides a complex guide on making accessible stories, but mainstream users won't have time for that. Some innovative users have found ways to hack accessibility, but accessibility should be a feature, not a hack.

SnapChat has a ways to go to meet the needs of their disabled users.

YouTube

The most accessible social platform of those presented is Google's YouTube. It auto generates captions. No extra effort for the video creator. If the captions are wrong, you can edit them without too much effort.

While there is always room for improvement, YouTube is doing a good job. Others should take note.

The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Looking Back - Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. The law (29 U.S.C § 794 (d)) applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508, agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information comparable to the access available to others. 

In 2009 Berners-Lee expanded that view finding the World Wide Web Foundation to promote Internet accessibility and equality for all. In 2018 Berners-Lee kicked off a global campaign that included a “Contract for the Web,” urging governments, Internet companies and users to commit to a set of principles to protect the openness and accessibility of the Web. The Washington Post reported that upon the campaign’s unveiling, more than 50 organizations had endorsed the principles underlying the contract, including the French government, Facebook and Google.

The Verdict - Yes: Social Media Needs to Step Up Their Game

Though it is only Federal agencies that are "required" to make digital content accessible, tech companies need to step up their accessibility game too. It is a moral, ethical, and financial imperative for technology companies to develop and iterate their platforms with audience in mind following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Tech companies can start by having the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Checklist in hand as they develop and update their platforms to be designed for all.

4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Limit Tech Use to A Communal Area

Youth need privacy for healthy growth, development, and to work through ideas. Yet in these monitoring-obsessed days of child-rearing, privacy is often thrown to the side in exchange for surveillance. 

That's why innovative educators help parents see past simplified safety advice like: only use technology in a communal area. While imposing such restrictions is easy and may give a false sense of security, it is ineffective.

Here's why:

Does not foster trust

What's better than monitoring is working to foster trust and staying connected with your child. When you have developed connections and communication, your child is more likely to share what she’s up to.

Drives behavior underground

Monitoring doesn't stop bad behavior, it drives it underground. Find out for yourself. Ask a teen who's monitored if it makes them stop doing something or just become better at lying about what they're doing.

Your child needs privacy 

Wanting privacy goes along with the development of independence. A young person doesn't want all their thoughts, feelings, and creations on display. Privacy allows young people to work out their thinking and feelings in a safe place.

Does not promote safe independent use

Your child is not always going to be using technology at home and you are not always going to be there to monitor them. More effective than surveillance is supporting your child in using technology effectively. This means fostering a trusting relationship where you can speak to one another.

Your turn

What do you think? Is this in alignment with advice you give parents? How are you helping to instill responsible use in the youth with whom you work?