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American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Web Site Compliance:

Are Pharmacy Web Sites Accessible?

Ellen R. Cohn

Gary Stoehr

Ashli Molinero

University of Pittsburgh

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What is WWW Accessibility?

• WWW pages can be accessed by a wide variety of users with disabilities, especially users of unconventional programs, such as screen readers.

• WWW pages allow for “low end,” to “high end,” technology access

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Our interest in the topic:

• Our University has adopted CourseInfo, a web-based class management package

• Our Schools are highly committed to ensuring accessibility to people with disabilities

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The Problem

• A person with a visual and/or learning disability cannot navigate a web page without text browsers and screen readers.–these audibly read web site text

• Without special coding, text browsers only display the word “image” when it reads a graphic image.

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The Frustration

“When blind people use the internet and come across unfriendly sites, we aren’t surfing, we are crawling….Imagine hearing pages that say:

‘Welcome to …(image). This is the home of ….(image).’ ‘link, link, link.’ It is like trying to use Netscape with your monitor off and the mouse unplugged. See how far you will get.”

(New York Times CyberTimes, 2/1/96)

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“Wake-up Calls” for Universities

• Justice Department opinion– American with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to sites

for businesses

• Sections 504 and 508 of Rehabilitation Act– Implies government funded sites must be

accessible

• US Dept.of Education-Office of Civil Rights Settlement Letter– 1996 student complaint: lack of Internet access– Set forth 7 minimal requirements for web accessibility

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Educational Institutions: Increasingly Web Dependent

• Electronic applications and registration• Faculty e - mail to students• Library reference systems

– search engines and internet access• Distance learning• Web-augmented classes

– group work– posted lecture notes, assignments

• Web based advising and grades• Web based bookstores of the future

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Accessibility Validation: Bobby 3.1 CAST Analysis

• http://www.cast.org/bobby/

• simple to use • provides a complete

report details remediation strategies

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Pharmacy Related Sites• 16 websites appearing on the HealthTech Solutions Clients

list were analyzed via CAST Bobby Analysis (6/21/99)• 1 was Bobby Approved: National Pharmacy Cholesterol

Council• 15 were not accessible

– e.g.: AACP, APA, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties, National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities, Pharmacist’s Letter,

• The 2 most common errors:– missing alternate text for images– requires frames titles

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Medical/Disability Sites• American Medical Association, www.ama-assn.org, 3 accessibility

error types; 38 errors • Cerebral Palsy Association, www.ucpa.org. 0 errors;

Bobby Approved• Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, www.msfactors.org, 1 accessibility

error type, 33 errors • National Multiple Sclerosis Society, www.nmss.org, 0 errors; Bobby

Approved• National Spinal Cord Injury Association, www.spinalcord.org, 1

accessibility error type; 1 error • WebMD, www.webMD.com, 2 accessibility error types; 15 errors

(analysis: 5/15/99)

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Are Pharmacy Schools “Open?”

• 76 pharmacy school web sites were tested 6/21/99

• 22 were Bobby Approved 54 were not accessible by Bobby standards

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Accessible Design Myths

• An accessible WWW page is a boring page• Accessible authoring is expensive and time

consuming• Accessible design is too difficult for the

common web designer• People with disabilities don’t use the WWW• Assistive technology will solve the problems• Accessibility only helps people with disabilities

from aware.hwg.org

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WAI Quick Tips for Page Authoring

• Images & animations. Use the alt attribute to describe the function of all visuals.– <IMG SRC= “./coolgraphics/graphicfish.gif”ALT =

“Graphic of a fish”>

• Image maps. Use client-side MAP and text for hotspots.

• Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, descriptions of video, and accessible versions in case inaccessible formats are used.

from www.w3c.org/wai/

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• Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For instance, do not use "click here."

• Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.

• Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.

• Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.

from www.w3c.org/wai/

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• Frames. Label with the title or name attribute.

• Tables. Make line by line reading sensible. Summarize. Avoid using tables for column layout.

• Check your work. Validate the HTML. Use evaluation tools and text-only browsers to verify accessibility.

from www.w3c.org/wai/

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How can I insure my course documents are accessible?

• Use Standards– WAI Page Authoring Codes

• Test your site/ validate your code:– Bobby– W3C-WAI HTML Validating Service

• Author your documents in HTML 4.0

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“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of a disability is an essential aspect.”

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

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For more information on WWW Accessibility:

Ashli Molinero, WebmasterUniversity of Pittsburgh

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS)ashli+@pitt.edu

Ellen Cohn, Ph.D.Director of Instructional Development, (SHRS)

Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacyecohn+@pitt.edu

Gary Stoehr PharmD, Associate DeanUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

gps1+@pitt.edu

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References

• W3C HTML Validation Service

• Bobby v. 3.1 (Center for Applied Special Technology)

• Universal Design / Disability Access for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (Trace Research Center)