Uncategorized – SAA Accessibility & Disability Section

Seeking volunteers: QA reviewers for SAA Education webinar captions

In 2021, the Accessibility & Disability Steering Committee received a SAA Foundation grant to caption pre-2020 SAA Education courses using the Rev transcription service. We are recruiting volunteers to help with the transcription quality assurance!

If you would like to help us, please fill out this form. Volunteers would be trained by the project coordinator Lydia Tang on how to review and correct captions within the Rev interface. Volunteers need to be a member of the Society of American Archivists. In addition to being able to access the course recording during the QA process, volunteers who would like to get credit toward the DAS Certificate will be able to purchase access to up to 5 course exams at a rate of $40 per exam. For questions about this project, please contact Lydia Tang (lydia.tang@lyrasis.org) and/or SAA Director of Education Rana Salzmann (rsalzmann@archivists.org)

Accessible Digital Documentary Heritage (UNESCO)

Earlier this month, UNESCO published Accessible Digital Documentary Heritage: Guidelines for the Preparation of Documentary Heritage in Accessible Formats for Persons with Disabilities. This 21-page report focuses on “the right to access to documentary heritage by persons with disabilities.”

As noted in the report’s Forward, written by UNESCO Deputy Director-General Xing Qu, “The advent of digital cultural archives and collections has spurred significant advancement in global access to culture, including through digitization. This has profoundly enhanced our cultural experience, not only in terms of production, dissemination and new technology-based access, but also in terms of participation and creation, as well as learning and participating in knowledge societies. As the UN agency that fosters the creation of knowledge societies that are inclusive, pluralistic, equitable, open and participatory for all, UNESCO believes that the advantages of digitization should be enjoyed equally by persons with disabilities.”

In the report, UNESCO examines the accessibility of its own Memory of the World website. This examination looks at website navigation, colors and contrast, links, images, and forms. Ultimately, the report states “the Memory of the World Register website has some basic accessibility features, nevertheless, the website
itself needs to be re-designed to make it more useable and accessible for people of all abilities, while the website’s content (items in the register, images, documents, etc.) should be adapted with better awareness of digital accessibility issues.” The way in which these components are examined directly connects to the guidelines found in the third section of the report.

In the final section of the report, 14 guidelines are divided into two categories – basic guidelines and advanced guidelines. The basic guidelines include a number of critical overall considerations, such as:

Consider accessibility at every step of document digitization, rather than fixing accessibility issues post hoc.
Plan to allocate sufficient resources for accessibility.
Involve persons with disabilities and/or accessibility experts in the process.

The advanced guidelines focus more on how to make specific types of materials accessible. These include:

Digital images should be accompanied by a text description of their subject’s key features (content and form) and should be captured with the highest resolution possible.
PDF documents should be screen-readable.
Videos should be accompanied by captions or sign language interpretation, as well as audio description.

Overall, this report provides a summary of many issues that inhibit accessibility of digital content. The report – and specifically the case study of the Memory of the World website – provides a solid framework for others wishing to examine their digital collections and web presence to ensure materials are accessible.

A&D Section Roundup – December 2020

The “Roundup” series is published on the first of each month. It features articles, upcoming events, and other items of interest to Section membership. If you have suggestions for items for next month’s A&DS Roundup, please email us at adsectionblogSAA at gmail dot com.

Webinars and other learning opportunities:

In Our Own Words: Deaf Perspectives in Oral History and Public History

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 6-7pm EST (free, but requires registration)

Sponsored by the National Council on Public History, the Drs. John S. & Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center at Gallaudet University, the Public History Program at American University, and the Oral History Association.

This program – a 1 hour Zoom conversation – brings Deaf people into this conversation, both as individuals sharing their experiences and as collaborators throughout the curation/interpretation process. In particular, the panelists will address how oral history interviews should be handled when interviewing Deaf community members. What are some considerations when planning and conducting Deaf oral histories? How can Deaf perspectives, storytelling culture, and interviewing practices push oral history beyond the approaches that bias the hearing/aural? How can oral historians and public historians incorporate or center Deaf narratives in public engagement, particularly when documenting and creating programming about this current moment?

This program is free, but registration is required (click here to register). Please also note the program will be recorded and shared.

Archivists with Disabilities Follow Up

Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 3pm EST (free but requires registration)

The Education Subcommittee of the SAA Accessibility and Disability Section would like to invite you to a follow-up of the SAA Annual Meeting Session “Archivists with Disabilities” on December 10, 3 p.m. EST, 2 p.m. CST. The original panel would like to answer questions that they were unable to during the conference, then have a discussion with the wider audience. We will be using SAA’s Zoom account, which will include closed captioning, however you do not have to be a member of SAA to attend the event. Presenters include Veronica Denison, Michelle Ganz, Chris Tanguay, and Zachary Tumlin. Unfortunately, original panelist, Ann Abney, is unable to attend.

In case you are not a member of SAA, were unable to attend the session, or would like to re-watch the presentation, it is now available for everyone to view. During the presentation, speakers discussed invisible and visible disabilities, adult onset or diagnosis of a disability, disclosing a disability, accommodations, and how to be an ally for your coworkers.

Please note that the event will not be recorded as we want everyone to feel comfortable asking questions and sharing their experiences. You are also welcome to anonymously submit any questions or topics you would like discussed during the event.

If interested, you can register here for this one-hour event. If you have any questions, please email Veronica Denison at vldenison@ksu.edu.

Disclose This! Advancing Disability Awareness in Libraries and Archives (recording)

A recording is now available from the October 16th panel discussion “Disclose This!: Advancing Disability Awareness in Libraries and Archives.” The discussion was hosted by the Archival Workers Emergency Fund, and participants included Jasmine Clark, chair of the DLF Digital Accessibility Working Group; Michelle Ganz, chair of the SAA Accessibility & Disability Section; and Karina Hagelin, activist and organizer. Panelists discussed advancing disability awareness and representation in libraries and archives.

Other Items of Interest:

Call for Volunteers for Appointed Positions in SAA

The Society of American Archivists has issued its official call for volunteers for appointed positions within the organization. If you’re interested, please complete the self-nomination form before January 15, 2021. Additionally, a Q&A forum will be held with SAA VP Courtney Chartier, members of the Appointments Committee, and recent SAA appointed leaders on Wednesday, December 9th at 2pm EST. Register for that session here and learn more about how you can get involved in these types of roles within SAA.

Disability History Association Fall 2020 Conference Award

The Disability History Association invites applications for the Fall 2020 Conference Award. This award is intended to help cover costs for conferences attended between October 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. This award is open to graduate students and contingent faculty, as well as underemployed, unemployed, or community-based scholars and artists. The DHA is particularly interested in supporting those who will receive limited or no support from other sources, including their home institutions. Applicants must be presenting on a topic directly related to disability history at a conference occurring between October 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. Eligible conferences may be either in-person or virtual. The award may cover travel, registration, or the cost of academic memberships required to attend the conference. Depending on demand, demonstrated need, and the availability of funds, award amounts may range from $100 to $300.

Applicants must write a letter of between 1-2 pages describing what conference they will be attending, the nature of their participation in the conference, and the significance of conference attendance for their career and the advancement of the field. They should also include a brief budget indicating expected costs, and how the award will help them cover these costs. If they are applying for or have received other funds to help defray the cost of attendance, applicants should indicate this in either their letter or budget.

Please submit applications to Dr. Caroline Lieffers at clieffers@gmail.com by December 15, 2020.

Library Juice Certificate in Disability Access and Inclusion

Library Juice Academy is now offering a Certificate in Disability Access and Inclusion which will “develop your understanding of accessibility and disability, and provide you with practices to proactively include and equitably serve patrons and staff with a range of disabilities.” You can learn more about the classes offered and the certificate program on their website: https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/certificate/disability-access-and-inclusion/.

Call for Program Proposals for 2021 SAA Annual Meeting

The SAA Program Committee invites proposals for sessions to be presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting. As you develop your session proposal, they encourage you to consider the following questions: “How might we, as archivists, rethink our work environments, our practices, and our profession to strengthen the ways in which we work and stay in community? How can we foster a professional culture that is innovative and that continually reevaluates itself? Where can we do better? How do we initiate, and advocate for, positive change in our institutions and communities? How can we come together more effectively as an archival community to support our shared values?”

Proposals for the 2021 Annual Meeting are due on Wednesday, January 13, at 11:59 CT. Learn more here: https://www2.archivists.org/am2021/program/call-for-program-proposals.

Spotlight: Apple iOS and Accessibility

This is the first in our new blog series titled “Spotlight.” The “Spotlight” series will feature case studies, interviews, and other stories about accessibility and disability guidelines, resources, and tools that may be of interest to A&DS members as well as to the archival community as a whole. We will publish a “Spotlight” on the 15th of each month. If you have ideas or suggestions for future “Spotlight” posts, please email us at adsectionblogSAA at gmail dot com.

This month’s Spotlight is written by Michelle Ganz, archives director at McDonough Innovation and chair of the Accessibility and Disability Section. In this post, Michelle looks at accessibility features in Apple iOS.

Apple iOS and Accessibility by Michelle Ganz

Apple has touted its commitment to accessibility since 2012. I’ve been an Apple user since the iPhone 3 in 2007. I would like to briefly review the functions that I have used and give you an honest assessment. Please remember that this is my experience and may not be yours, I also use many of the features but not all of them. I have an iPhone XS running iOS14.2

I have an issue with how buried these settings are. You have to know where to go to find what you need. This extra layer of research required is strange considering how many of these accommodations are written about as ‘fun things you can do with your phone’ articles.

Apple addresses four types of disability with their optional settings: Vision, Physical/Motor, Hearing. I have found all of the categories to have features I use.

Basics:

From the main accessibility menu you can make general adjustments under each heading or drill down to more options.

Vision:

The options for vision include audio description, motion control, and adjustments to the voice your phone uses. I always switch to Bold font to make it easier to read smaller fonts.

Physical/ Motor:

These options all relate to how you interact with your phone including different ways to control your keyboard, touch ID sensitivity, and how faceID works. In this section I have changed the side buttons to open my hearing aid app, and set backtap to open my control panel where I can adjust my hearing aids.

Hearing:

For the deaf and hard of hearing there are options to use captioning phones, how the audio is adjusted, and visual alerts which give you a series of flashing lights to alert you.

In addition to their previously standard feature, Apple introduced a new feature called Sound Recognition that’s a great idea but doesn’t work well for me in practice. The idea is that your phone can alert you to a variety of sounds like sirens, fire alarms, door knocks, and water running. In practice these features don’t work well. I get alerts when someone sets something down on a table, but not when they knock on the door. It alerts me to water running when I am standing at the sink, but not when I leave it running after I walk away. I suspect that as it ‘learns’ it will get better. With any brand new feature there’s a period between initial release and software patches to make the future fully functional.

Pros:

Apple offers a lot of integrated functionality between the iPhone and the Apple Watch. Watch connectivity means I can feel my alerts, which works a lot better than audio alerts. There is a lot of customizability to really make your iPhone work for you.

Cons:

The hearing aids I use are specifically designed to work with Apple phones which means I am ‘tied’ to Apple; my hearing aids use a different bluetooth frequency to connect; as opposed to connecting as a bluetooth device. iOS13 ‘broke’ my hearing aids. They refused to acknowledge it and then claimed it would be fixed in the next software update. It was not. iOS14 fixed the worst of the problems like dropping calls and randomly burning through the batteries. But it’s still making all sorts of noises it’s not supposed to.

For all the issues that I have with iOS accessibility it still really is pretty great. They could be doing a lot better, but the idea (and intention) is a good one. I’m not sure I would switch from another hearing aid manufacturer or move to a different type of phone because of the problems I have, but I’m not sure I would have made my choice solely on the iPhone compatibility if I knew how many issues there would be. I like finding new ways to use the features and seeing what new ideas they come up with.