Clemson Accessibility Commission

New PDF Accessibility Guide

Adobe PDF Logo Clemson University’s Accessibility Commission is happy to announce the arrival of a new guide to Adobe Acrobat PDF accessibility that has just recently been added to the Accessibility Portal’s Guides page!

Developed by Clemson Online, this guide covers:

  • How to scan documents or convert your Microsoft and InDesign files to PDF
  • How to edit links, graphics, tables, forms, and other document features to make them accessible
  • How to verify the order in which a text-to-speech program will read your PDF content
  • How to use Acrobat’s built-in accessibility checker.
  • And more.

We hope you find it as useful as we do. If you see ways in which it can be improved, please leave a note in the guide’s discussion board.

Accessibility Portal Updates for 2020

We’ve made it to 2020! To start the year off right, we’ve made a few updates to the Accessibility Portal that are worth mentioning.

First, some misinformation regarding scooter availability was identified and corrected on the Gameday Accessibility page. We would like to thank all who helped us identify this error and we ask that you all please continue to help us keep this information correct.

Second, the accommodations page was revised to provide additional resources and information about the  offices responsible for managing accommodation requests. Also, this page now includes all of the information that was previously on a separate Accessibility Services page. We hope that, by combining these pages, needs can be met more quickly.

Third, after receiving feedback that the number of links on the homepage was overwhelming, we replaced the links section with a newly made Spotlight video. This video features student testimonials regarding Clemson University’s ability to meet accommodation needs. We are very excited to share this video with you! And thank you to all of the students who participated!

Changes To Come in 2020

It is our understanding that Creative Services plans to release new website guidelines and templates sometime this year. As such, we do not currently have plans to make drastic changes or additions to the Portal. This said, we do hope to add a page that features Clemson’s accessibility related programs and communities (examples include: the Spectrum Program, Adaptive Sports, and Tiger2Tiger).

While we wait to make significant changes to the Accessibility Portal until Creative Services releases its updates, we would love to collect your ideas on how it can be improved. Critiques are also welcomed. Please feel free to use the comment section below to share your ideas with us.

Let’s make 2020 an awesome year for accessibility!

NDEAM 2019 is here! (Recording and Resources)

It is that time of year again. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) and this year, we have some added events. Unfortunately, some of these events have already occurred but others are still to come. We’ll be updating this post throughout the month so that those who miss any particular event can still be engaged here.


Our keynote speaker, Richie Parker, kicked things off with a presentation on “Driven to Overcome.” If you were unable to attend, be sure to check out the recording below.

The next day, Corbin Kolehmainen and Austin Williams gave a presentation on Cascade Accessibility. If you are someone who works on a website for the university, be sure to check out their slides below.

Then we had a presentation and workshop on Video Accessibility by Michelle Tuten. Her slides and workshop instructions are below.

On the 9th, we had a hiring event in the Watt Center from 10:30am – 12:20pm. Hiring Event details can be found on the Clemson Event calendar. As we update this post, if there is a list of employers or other resources we can provide, we will add them here.

On October 23, we had a presentation by Michelle Tuten on Microsoft Office Accessibility Basics. In this presentation, Michelle primarily covered Word and PowerPoint accessibility, but also touched on Excel and on saving these files to PDF. Here are the Microsoft Office Accessibility event details and the Microsoft Accessibility presentation slides.

Wrapping up the month, on October 28 we will have a “Helping Heroes Panel” discuss upstate resources for military veterans in room 100 of Vickery from 5:30-6:30pm. Here are the Helping Heroes event details.

Last, but not least, throughout the entire month of October, Cooper Library has a display of poems by disabled poets along the stairwell. The display is called “Make No Apologies for Yourself: New Poems by Disabled Poets.” Here are more details on the poetry display, and here are some photographs of the display.

Southeastern Regional Wheelchair Games

On May 18, Clemson University hosted the annual Southeastern Regional Wheelchair Games. Para-athletes and Paralympians came together to compete in archery and track & field events. Participants and spectators were also able to watch three new national records be set.

This is one of only a few adaptive sport opportunities that Jasmine Townsend is involved in bringing to Clemson. During this past April, she helped start Clemson’s competitive wheelchair tennis team, which is being coached by a former US national wheelchair tennis team coach. In October of this year, Townsend looks forward to Clemson hosting a junior wheelchair basketball tournament. Then on May 15-17 of 2020, the Wheelchair Games will begin again!

For more on this year’s Wheelchair Games, check out Inside Clemson Article, WSPA’s coverage, and Southeastern Regional Wheelchair Games’ Facebook page. Also check out this Greenville News article on the tennis team.

For more on Clemson’s accessibility efforts, check out Clemson’s Accessibility Portal.

Upcoming Event: Advocacy Day For Access and Independence

From HireMeSC

Advocacy Day for Access & Independence is the only event in South Carolina that’s breaking down barriers for ALL South Carolinians with disabilities. Since its inaugural gathering in May 2014, support has grown to 25 organizations statewide all unified in an effort to ensure people with disabilities have equal access and opportunity. People with disabilities face unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to transportation, employment, and public access. Advocacy Day for Access and Independence will shine a light on these barriers in hopes of improving the lives of all South Carolinians.

To help us plan accordingly, please register now for this FREE event! 

  • Thursday, April 4, 2019
    10:00 AM12:30 PM
  • SC State House
    1201 Main Street
    Columbia, SC, 29201
    United States (map)

Registration

To learn more about and participate in Clemson’s efforts to break down barriers, keep an eye on Clemson’s Accessibility Portal.

March 2019 is Assistive Technology Awareness Month

The following post was written by Tammy Wallace. For more information on Clemson’s Accessibility resources, see the Accessibility Web Portal.

February 20, 2019, Columbia, SC – The Governor of South Carolina has proclaimed March 2019 as Assistive Technology Awareness Month throughout the state and encourages all South Carolinians to become aware of the many ways in which assistive technologies contribute to the health, happiness, and independence of families, friends and neighbors.

A press conference will be held in the Lobby of the State House on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. to Noon.  Please join us as we celebrate March 2019 as Assistive Technology Awareness Month.

One way to gain awareness of assistive technologies available is to attend The SC Assistive Technology Expo on March 5th, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln Street, Columbia, SC.  The event is hosted by The South Carolina Assistive Technology Program, part of the Center for Disability Resources, USC School of Medicine.  The Expo is the only event of its kind in South Carolina that showcases the latest advancements in assistive technology and offers workshops to learn more about how this technology can be used at home, school and work. During the event, individuals with disabilities, parents, school and health professionals can visit over 70 exhibits and attend workshops related to Assistive Technology. The SC Assistive Technology Expo is free and open to the public. Free parking is also available.

The SC Assistive Technology Program is a federally funded program that helps people with disabilities identify assistive technology that will improve their daily living, their ability to work and learn and be a more independent part of the community. We provide device loans and demonstrations, an on-line equipment exchange, AT reuse, training and technical assistance.  We link people with technology and work with consumers, service providers, state agencies and policy makers. Learn more at http://scatp.med.sc.edu/.

Free Advertising for Clemson’s Accessibility Related Events!

If you are hosting or managing an accessibility-related event, we’d love to advertise it!

On Clemson’s Accessibility Web Portal, we have a calendar widget. Any event on https://calendar.clemson.edu/ that has added “Accessibility” to the Department field will show up in that widget (the screenshot at the bottom of this post shows where the Department field can be found).

If you are unsure that your event qualifies as an accessibility-related event or if Clemson’s event creation process changes to where this post needs to be updated, feel free to contact Michelle Tuten at mtuten@clemson.edu.

 

Under Filters, the Department field is between the Event Type and Target Audience fields.
Screenshot of event creation page.

Free Web Accessibility Tester Training

[NOTICE: The registration page for this event says that the training will be over at 3:30, but we’ve received an agenda saying that it could last until 4:30. Please plan accordingly.]

Access South Carolina IT (ASCIT) is providing a free training seminar to those interested in testing websites and digital content for accessibility issues.

ASCIT has crafted this training so that persons of all levels of technical experience should be able to learn from it. In other words, you should not need to know HTML, CSS, or other programming languages in order to understand what is being taught. To learn more, see ASCIT’s event detail page which includes a link to the schedule.

This training has a virtual attendance option for those who do not want to travel to Columbia, SC. Also, we are in the process of finding a place on Clemson’s campus where virtual attendees who prefer a face-to-face experience may gather.

If you are interested in joining the Clemson campus gathering, please inform Michelle Tuten (mtuten@clemson.edu) and indicate how comfortable you are with attending virtually if the room has already met capacity. Michelle will follow up with you.

No matter how you attend, please be sure to fill out ASCIT’s registration page. If you are planning to join the Clemson campus gathering, please register as an online participant.

Also, if you’re eager to start checking the accessibility of your digital content, Clemson’s Accessibility Portal has a page on Do-It-Yourself Digital Accessibility Auditing that can help you get started.

New Inclusive Hiring Advocacy Program

Happy New Years and Congrats to our football champions!

Continuing to start 2019 on the right foot, the President’s Office, the Provost’s Office, the Office of Human Resources, and the Office of Inclusion and Equity have developed a new search advocacy program that promotes inclusion and equity. This program is currently looking for participants.

Learn more from Inside Clemson’s article.

For information about other ways you can make Clemson a more inclusive place, be sure to visit Clemson’s Accessibility Portal.

“Meet A Tiger” this week features Stephen Fitzmaurice

This week, Clemson’s Newstand features Stephen Fitzmaurice in the “Meet a Tiger” segment.

Stephen Fitzmaurice is one of Clemson’s American Sign Language professors who has started Clemson’s American Sign Language (ASL) educational interpreting program.

Find out more at Meet a Tiger: Stephen Fitzmaurice.

Also, be sure to check out Clemson’s Accessibility Portal for more campus accessibility information and resources.