[Athen] ATHEN Google Documents Accessibility Report

[Greg Kraus]

Higher education institutions are trying to ascertain the
accessibility of the Google Apps suite and the impact it will have on
their campuses. The Access Technology Higher Education Network (ATHEN)
conducted accessibility evaluations, covering multiple types of
disabilities, on Google Documents in order to provide campuses as much
information as possible. The evaluations revealed that while work had
been done to improve the accessibility for screen reader users, there
are significant shortcomings for both screen reader users and people
with other types of disabilities requiring different assistive
technologies. The evaluations cover visual, mobility, learning, and
cognitive disabilities. The report may be read online at

http://athenpro.org/google-docs-accessibility

or can be downloaded as a PDF at

http://athenpro.org/system/files/ATHENGoogleAppsReport2011-10-18.pdf

ATHEN will continue its work by performing additional evaluations on
other applications within the Google Apps suite.

Any questions or comments about this report can be directed to Greg
Kraus (greg_kraus at ncsu.edu), Coordinator of the ATHEN Google Apps
Accessibility Interest Group.

--
Greg Kraus
University IT Accessibility Coordinator
NC State University
919.513.4087
greg_kraus at ncsu.edu