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To learn about the purposeful design and use of digital resources to improve online inclusion.  

Disabled People Use the Internet! ​�Building and Maintaining Inclusive ​�Library Spaces Online​�​

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Slides & Additional Resources: go.unc.edu/cediexchange

Disabled People Use the Internet! �Building and Maintaining Inclusive �Library Spaces Online�

Laura March, MS MEd�PhD Student, UNC-Chapel Hill�@theartofmarch�lmarch@unc.edu

Dr. Amelia Gibson, PhD�Assistant Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill�@AmeliaNGibson�angibson@email.unc.edu

Slides & Additional Resources: go.unc.edu/cediexchange​

Agenda

Slides & Additional

Resources:

go.unc.edu/cediexchange ​

Institutional  Technological

(These events are not limited to COVID-19/quarantine events – they are just good ways to include disabled patrons, generally)

• Story times
• AMAs (Ask Me Anything sessions)
• Learning experiences / clubs
• Virtual author talks/readings 
• Fitness (yoga, pedometer challenge)

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Formats

• Timing: Synchronous, asynchronous, or a combination
• Medium: Video, images, text, audio, braille, physical/in-person, telephone, print, computer, mobile device, tablet

Online Programming Might Include...

• Informational talks (census, stimulus)
• Draw-Alongs (Mo Willems Lunch Doodles)
• Podcast series
• Quarantine book clubs
• Movie watch parties

Black, Disabled & Proud: College Students With Disabilities – blackdisabledandproud.org/black-lives-matter

Plan for a realistic division of labor, responsibility, and control

Divisions of Labor�(One example of a framework)

• Programming: Planning, Implementation, Managing Event, Evaluation, Social Media Management (?)
• Administrative: Permissions, Funding, Evaluation, Institutional Support 
• Advertising: Communicating with Community, Social Media Management (?) 
• Tech: Website Design, Social Media Management (?), Technology support, Internet security, WCAG 
• Community Representative(s): Communicating with Community,  Planning, Evaluation
• Security: Managing trolls, Implementing guidelines for engagement, Internet security

Questions to ask

• What resources do we need to do this? What technical capability might we need? Do you have those resources? If not, are open source or other free resources available and adequate?
• Who in my institution is responsible for managing those resources? Do you need that person's buy in to complete your project? 
• Does that person have the training, support, spoons/slots needed to do this in an inclusive way? Can they do this remotely? If not, how can we support them?
• What happens if the institution's information values don't match that of the community? Who is responsible for gathering that information? Implementation? Who deals with community feedback? 

Hold vendors to inclusive standards for accessibility

Questions to ask

• Do our vendors/software/platforms give us the capability to create an inclusive service/program?
• Do this vendor's policies (e.g., rules for sharing or translation) make it difficult for you to include disabled community members? 
• How can I learn to use the accessibility features on this program/platform? 
• For public-facing platforms, is this a platform that disabled community members use/can access? 
• At the very least, are services WCAG, ADA, and Section 508 compliant?

Set clear guidelines across the library’s internet presence

(This is even more important during �social distancing!)

Things to consider

All staff who interact with the public (or create for the public) should have the same basic training regarding accessibility/usability guidelines and the programming needs of disabled community members. 

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This includes the website, social media, YouTube or other video sharing platforms, text messages, podcasts, and other formats. 

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Think about content as the idea, information, or experience. Provide your content in different formats (and, if possible, through multiple media).

Technological Strategies

Accessible Tools Within Social Media 

Live Video Captioning

3rd Party Software Needed

Native & Auto Captioning

Links to resources inside slide notes: go.unc.edu/cediexchange

Alternative (Alt) Text

Conveys the information in an image through an equivalent text description (tag) or identifies an image as decoration¹ 

University of Michigan's Describing Visual Resources Toolkit

The ArQuives Tweet

Twitter Accessibility Settings

Creating alt text on Twitter

"Add Description"

Creating alt text on Facebook

Organize Your Web Content

Hierarchical Structure

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<body>

<h1>Page Heading</h1>

<p>My first paragraph. </p>

<h2>Secondary Heading</h2>

<p>My second paragraph. </p>

</body>

</html>

Responsive Code

Separate Content and Styles / Use Progressive Enhancement

HTML/PHP

JavaScript/HTML5​

CSS

Progressive Enhancement: What It Is, And How To Use It?

Progressive Enhancement: What It Is, And How To Use It?

HTML/PHP

JavaScript/HTML5​

CSS

Text is Easy-To-Read & Not an Image

WebAIM’s Color Contrast Checker

Create Descriptive Links

The Good

Visit Laura's website

​

The Bad

Click here to visit Laura's website

​

The Ugly (and unclickable)

Website: https://lauramarch.com/portfolio/

Peri's Anatomy of Accessible Forms (2019)

Evaluate Your Work

• Run an automated accessibility-checker​
• Ask real users for feedback

Activity:�Run Your Website Through WAVE

wave.webaim.org

wave.webaim.org

Disabled People Use the Internet!  �Building and Maintaining Inclusive Library Spaces Online

Laura March, MS MEd�PhD Student, UNC-Chapel Hill�@theartofmarch�lmarch@unc.edu

Dr. Amelia Gibson, PhD�Assistant Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill�@AmeliaNGibson�angibson@email.unc.edu

Slides & Additional Resources: go.unc.edu/cediexchange

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services �RE-07-17-0048-17.