Steven, a 1st grader with fine motor difficulty, is using a touch screen to learn the names of colors and shapes. José, a 4th grader with learning disabilities, is creating a picture-based website with his teacher to share information about himself, his family, and favorite activities with friends. Anna, a 9th grader who is blind, uses screen-reading software to do research for various class projects. These students are all avid Internet users who utilize a combination of customized home pages and Assistive Technology (AT) tools to access the myriad possibilities afforded by the World Wide Web (WWW).

Recent attention to WWW accessibility for persons with disabilities has prompted new guidelines and policies governing criteria for accessibility, helping students like those mentioned above to take full advantage of WWW offerings. In the United States, federal and state legislation have established requirements that information technology be accessible (Assistive Technology Act of 1998; Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998). Existing legislation is also being applied to new technologies, as in a 1996 Department of Justice ruling stating that the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) accessibility requirements do apply to WWW resources. Other voluntary guidelines for developing websites that are accessible to individuals with disabilities have been established, in particular those recently published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (1999), an international Internet standards group.

But what can classroom teachers of students with disabilities do to promote the use of the WWW? Guidelines for designing modified webpages become particularly important when employing the WWW in meeting curriculum objectives. By applying a few fundamental design principles and user modifications, the Internet can become a user-friendly place for students with special needs. Teachers can design webpages with specific modifications for each individual student, if necessary. In fact, many students with disabilities can also be taught to create their own homepages by following a few basic steps.

For the novice, this sounds like wishful thinking. Doesn't it take a lot of work to create a webpage? How will I post it to the WWW? In reality, creating a webpage is as simple as creating a file on a word processor. Pages can even be stored on a floppy or hard drive eliminating the need for outside servers.

Evaluating Students' AT Needs
The WWW presents text, images, sounds, videos, animations, and hyperlinks all of which may increase access or pose barriers for students with disabilities. After considering the unique needs of students, determine which of the accessibility barriers can be overcome just by changing options in the Control Panel or Preferences on the browser. For example, Windows has an Accessibility Options feature in the Control Panel allowing for basic modifications, including adjustments to the display, sounds, keyboard, and mouse. Double-click the accessibility icon and select from the following tabs:

Keyboard
For persons with motor control difficulty, use the Filter Keys to modify for slow and repeated key strokes or StickyKeys to hit command key combinations one at a time.

Sound
For individuals with visual or auditory impairments, ShowSounds convert auditory output into visual signals while SoundSentry will generate visual warnings when the computer makes a sound.

Display
Contrast can be adjusted to accommodate visual disabilities and users who are colorblind by using high contrast colors and fonts designed for easy reading. Other options for users with low vision include enlarging on-screen icons and magnifying documents up to 500%.

Mouse
Change the setting to MouseKeys if a student would find it easier to use the numeric keypad on the keyboard to control the cursor.

Students' access may also be improved by adjusting the preferences or options in the browser software. For example, in Netscape Navigator, turn off image loading in the browser, making it easier for students who use screen-reading software with a voice synthesizer to hear the text. Share these simple modifications with other general and special educators. Any adjustments to the regular settings can easily be set to revert back to the original settings after a specified time period.

For students needing more support, a variety of AT devices are available to accommodate disabilities in the following four major domains: physical, visual, auditory, and/or cognitive. Students with physical disabilities may have difficulty using a mouse because a pointing device requires good hand-eye coordination. There are a variety of mouse substitutes. For example, Steven's coordination limitations prevent him from using a mouse; however, he is very adept at using his touch keyboard to drive the computer. There are a variety of other alternatives, including keyboards with bigger keys and more space, paper overlays with large letters and/or arrows, and self-designed overlays. Also, on-screen keyboards allow the user to use a single "key" or "dwell selection" eliminating the need to click. Students who cannot use their hands might use a mouth stick to press keys on the keyboard, head pointer, trackball, foot pedals, hardware switches, or speech recognition software.

Students with cognitive disabilities may have difficulty with focusing, understanding, and/or remembering information. Organization and easy navigation are important features. Simplified alternative keyboards (e.g., pictures vs. letters), speech recognition, and word prediction software may also be useful. José has a reading disability and finds it difficult to read plain text. He uses screen reading software (e.g., IntelliTalk by Intellitools, 1994) that reads text from the screen aloud and highlights which word is being read. This way, he can see and hear the words. When selecting text to speech software, consider variables such as the ability to edit pronunciation, control speech quality and speed, and the ease of activating speech on desired text.

For students with auditory disabilities, ensure that important information presented through sounds is available via other sources, such as text transcripts and captions. This is particularly important when downloading videos and audiotracks from the WWW. People with disabilities may access free-loan captioned films/videos through a new website (http://www.cfv.org). The service is sponsored by the Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf for deaf and hard of hearing students, teachers, audiologists, parents, and others.

For students with visual disabilities, screen magnification and screen reader software in conjunction with speech synthesizers or dynamic Braille displays make it viable for students like Anna to navigate documents. Anna uses a standard keyboard, but instead of displaying pages visually on a standard monitor, she listens to text read aloud by a speech synthesizer. She also uses speech recognition technologies to control the computer. When creating a page for a student who will be using screen readers, design a text-only webpage and be certain to end all sentences, headings, and lit items with a period or other punctuation. This helps screen readers interpret the information on the page. Windows users can choose pwWebSpeak (http://www.prodworks.com) as their browser. This "talking" browser is designed for efficient WWW access by people with visual impairments and learning disabilities.

Creating a Customized Page with Individual Learners in Mind
After determining the AT needs of students, the next step is to create a homepage for use in the classroom that helps organize the WWW for users. For a general class page, informally survey students and find the kinds of sites they might like to visit (e.g., photos, music, educational games). Gather lists of sites that are appropriate and accessible for students' needs (e.g., easy to navigate in terms of icon placement, size, organization, reading level). Also, consider web-based learning stations that may supplement content curriculum.

Games, activities, and sites of interest can be easily linked to classroom computers. Currently, there are many simple educational games available on-line, and increasingly sites are available for teachers to create their own on-line activities. Locate Quia! (http://www.quia.com) for a fast, simple way to post an on-line game for a class then link it to the class page.

After gathering the initial information and resources, create a page tailored to individual students' interests and needs. Narrowing the daunting amount of information currently available on the WWW is the most practical reason to design a special class page. Furthermore, some sites do not work with AT tools and by designing a site, students' access to important information can be guaranteed.

Creating a simple class page is just a matter of saving your document as an HTML file. This can be done in many different programs, including newer versions of Microsoft Word and other word processing programs. In Word, for example, go to "File/Save As" and in the "Save File as Type" drop-box, select "HTML document." The page is now ready to be viewed as a WWW document. The trick is being able to use the page on the Internet. To do this, and to set the page so that it pops up every time the Internet is opened, try the following steps:

Opening A Page on the Internet
1. Open Netscape or Explorer.
2. Go to "File/Open."
3. Click on "Choose File."
4. Find the file on the disk and double click or click "Open."

Setting the Page as the Homepage
This varies slightly depending on whether Netscape or Explorer is being used, but try the following:
1. Go to "Edit/Preferences."
2. "Homepage" and "Location" should appear in the dialogue box. Click on "Browse."
3. Find the page in the directory.
4. Click "OK."
Now the layout of the page is ready to be made user friendly.

Adding a Table
Tables are generally used to help arrange text and graphics on a webpage. While different programs may vary slightly in table creation and formatting, try the following:
1. Go to "Insert Table."
2. Select the number of columns and rows needed.
3. Place images and text inside the table cells for easy alignment.

When tables aren't used, images and text often become disarranged when the page is posted. Be careful, however, when designing a page that will be used with a screen reader, as tables sometimes interfere with efficient screen interpretation and should be avoided.

Adding a Hyperlink
1. Select a website on the Internet.
2. On the homepage, type the title for this site's link.
3. Highlight the title, and go to "Insert/Hyperlink."
4. In the dialogue box prompt that asks for the file name or URL, type the http address for the website and click on "OK." The link should be blue when returning to the page.

Design Guidelines
1. Use consistent page layout. Maintain a consistent look when using more than one page. This makes it easier to locate information on the screen. Keep colors, font styles and sizes, and button locations consistent. A clear, consistent site will especially benefit persons with learning or visual disabilities.

2. Keep backgrounds simple. Contrast is most important, especially for learners with low vision or color blindness. Busy backgrounds also make it more difficult to read the screen. Avoid tiled, dark, and brightly colored backgrounds and make sure there is enough contrast between the text and background of the page.

3. Design large buttons. Links are easier to select if they are large, especially for users who have mobility or visual impairments. Large buttons or image links may benefit these users and also those with cognitive disabilities.

4. Consider white space. Leaving considerable space around items (white space) increases readability for all users, and also provides extra room to navigate the site for users with mobility difficulties.

After completing a class page, test the website to determine if all elements are accessible given students' specific abilities. If more help is needed, try the following resources:

1. The World Wide Web Consortium's pages (http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted) detail Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a fact sheet of the most commonly asked questions about these guidelines, and a variety of resources to help use the guidelines.

2. Bobby (http://www.cast.org/bobby/), created by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), is a web-based tool that analyzes webpages for their accessibility.

3. Equal Access to Software and Information (http://www.isc.rit.edu/~easi/) is a project of the Teaching, Learning & Technology Group, an affiliate of the American Association for Higher Education, which provides information and guidance in the area of access-to-information technologies for individuals with disabilities.

4. Trace Research and Development Center (http://www.trace.wisc.edu) is developing information technologies and telecommunications systems to be more accessible and usable by people with disabilities.

5. The Web Access Project (http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/webaccess/index.html), sponsored by The National Center for Accessible Media, researches, develops, and tests methods of integrating access technologies (i.e., captioning, audio description) into WWW sites.

References
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, § 2, 104 Stat. 328 (1991).

Assistive Technology Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-394), 112 Stat. 3627 (1999).

IntelliTools (1994). IntelliTalk [computer software]. Novato, CA: Author.

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Amendments, Pub. L. No. 105-220, § 508, 112 Stat. 936 (1998).

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (1999). Web accessibility initiative. Retrieved July 1, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.w3.org/WAI.
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Dr. Rebecca Hines is an Assistant Professor in Exceptional Education at the University of Central Florida, Daytona Beach.

Dr. K. Sarah Hall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at California State University, Northridge.