[Athen] Accessible Classroom A/V Controls

[Wink Harner]

Many of these touchscreens also require fingernails, or the ability to hold
a stylus or that one must be standing in order to see or reach the screen.
Think very broadly and inclusively in assessing "access" & accessible
design on these sophisticated systems.

Wink Harner
On Jul 24, 2015 2:52 PM, "Teresa Haven" <Teresa.Haven at nau.edu> wrote:


> Hi, all.  I asked a colleague here at our institution to provide comment

> on this, since she was involved when we had to switch to touchscreens:

>

> We also switched to AV Controls that use a touch screen to control

> everything.  The vendor suggested initially that the controls just be

> labeled with Braille.  However, when it was pointed out that not everybody

> reads Braille, there was not any other type of accessibility features

> mentioned.  We just had to develop a work-around and create a standard

> template for how the system is accessed.  The control panel also has small

> (physical) buttons on both the left and right sides that can also be used

> in place of the touch screen.  The template basically spells out the steps

> to initiate the system (touch anywhere on the touch screen), and then lays

> out the button positions and what they do (2nd button from top on left side

> of panel)....etc.  Not very efficient, and certainly a lot more work for

> our co-worker to use independently - sometimes she can remember the

> sequence, but other times she has to pull up the template and go through

> the steps with her screen reader - but it's a w!

>  orkaround that was the least painful for everyone.

>

> This is not the ideal and we are still talking with vendors about this

> issue each time they want to demo a system for us or talk about upgrades.

>

> Best,

> Teresa

>

> Teresa Haven, Ph.D.

> Accessibility Analyst, Northern Arizona University

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu]

> On Behalf Of Weissenberger, Todd M

> Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 8:33 AM

> To: athen-list at u.washington.edu

> Cc: Kaltsas, Konstantin G

> Subject: [Athen] Accessible Classroom A/V Controls

>

> Colleagues,

>

> I just came from an interesting conversation about classroom A/V

> controls.  At Iowa, we've traditionally used push button control units that

> allow us to operate classroom technology like projectors, microphones,

> etc.  These boxes had limited controls and were relatively easy to use for

> users with and without disabilities.

>

> Now these push button controllers are beginning to retire, and the new

> units are controlled via touchscreen.  I have to believe that these are

> inaccessible out of the box, although our vendor has an iOS app that

> supposedly can control the panel via iPad or similar.  Has anyone

> encountered any issues around inaccessible classroom A/V technology, or

> implemented any accessibility strategies to mitigate accessibility issues

> in A/V room controls?

>

> Our vendor is Extron, for what it's worth.

>

> Todd

>

> T.M. Weissenberger

> Web Accessibility Coordinator

> Information Technology Services

> University of Iowa

>

> 319-384-3323

>

>

>

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