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Tools & Resources

Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. If you create websites, software, videos, or electronic documents; or if you procure technology that others use, it is your responsibility to ensure content and technologies are accessible to all users. Mid is committed to providing support to help its community embrace this responsibility.

There are many tools, tips, and resources available within this site, but if you have additional questions contact Strategic Communications.

WHERE DO I START?

This website provides a growing number of how-to pages with step-by-step guides for making particular types of content accessible. To learn more about accessibility of particular technologies, consult the pages under Tools & Resources that are most relevant for the software you’re using or are especially concerned about.

Several accessible templates for commonly used communication pieces are available.

WHAT IS ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY?

Accessible technology works for all users. This includes electronic documents, websites, software, hardware, video, audio, and other technologies. People who interact with technology are extremely diverse with a wide variety of characteristics, and a traditional monitor, or keyboard and mouse may not be the tool of choice for some.

Consider users

  • who are blind and use either audible output (products called screen readers that read web content using synthesized speech), or tactile output (a refreshable Braille device).
  • with learning disabilities such as dyslexia who may also use audible output referred to as Text-to-Speech (TTS).
  • with low vision using screen magnification software allowing them to zoom into a portion of the visual screen.
  • with fine motor impairments who may be unable to use a mouse, and instead rely exclusively on keyboard commands, or use assistive technologies such as speech recognition, head pointers, mouth sticks, or eye-gaze tracking systems.
  • who are deaf or hard of hearing and are unable to access audio content, and require video to be captioned and audio to be transcribed.
  • who may be using mobile devices including phones, tablets, or other devices, which means they’re using a variety of screen sizes and a variety of gestures or other user interfaces for interacting with their devices and accessing content.