Digital Accessibility News

From the Office of Accessibility at Minnesota IT Services

Bringing accessible tablets to incarcerated people in correctional facilities

By: Lois Tucke, Sign Language Interpreter Specialist and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, and Rosie Widell, Digital Accessibility Coordinator and Risk Management, Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC)

The Department of Corrections (DOC) provides tablets to the people housed in Minnesota’s state correctional facilities.

These tablets aim to strengthen bonds between incarcerated populations and their friends, family, and the community. For those incarcerated, secure electronic devices provide further access to:

• rehabilitative program content,
• religious content,
• important department updates, and
• ease of access to staff communications and processes.

Additionally, these devices provide positive leisure activities, such as games, movies, and books. The DOC expects high-quality and accessible products for our users.

From the start, the DOC committed to upholding the state standard to make information accessible to all people living in state facilities. We are seeking to build a tablet system that meets the state digital accessibility standard for all incarcerated users and want to share how we are making this a reality.

• What planning occurs before writing the Request for Proposals (RFP) to ensure accessibility is considered throughout the project?
• What kind of language is used in an RFP to ensure potential contract vendors understand the importance of digital accessibility?
• What kinds of digital accessibility testing is being done?
• What kinds of barriers are being found?

Lois and Rosie share answers to these questions, and information about the ongoing effort to deliver tablets that are digitally accessible to an incarcerated population.

Learn more:

Bringing accessible tablets to incarcerated people in correctional facilities

Tech Tip: Set Alert Requesting Accessible Emails

Easy, just in time reminders. This can be a great way to get people thinking more about digital accessibility.

And, Microsoft has a tool for this built into Office 365. It adds a notification reminding people that you prefer to receive accessible content.

The notification says "A recipient prefers accessible content.” If there are accessibility issues with their email, it may also display “Review accessibility issues."

To set the notification in Office 365:

1. Go to the web version of Outlook (instructions: How to sign in to Outlook on the web).
2. Go to Settings (gear icon in upper right)> View All Outlook Settings> General: Accessibility
3. Under the Accessible Content heading, select the checkbox “Ask senders to send content that’s accessible.”

This subtle reminder to create accessible content will now be present in a place many spend time each day – reading and responding to email.

Events and Trainings

Free Webinar: Accessible Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)

Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Time: 1pm – 2:30pm CT

Description:
“The U.S. Access Board, in conjunction with other federal agencies earlier this year, completed a four-part series on the inclusive design of autonomous vehicles (AVs) for persons with disabilities. Join us as representatives from the Access Board provide an overview and summary of these sessions. In addition, this session will look at the next steps in ensuring AVs are accessible to and useable by persons with disabilities including persons with mobility, sensory and cognitive disabilities. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions following the speaker's presentation.”

Speaker:
Randall Duchesneau, Accessibility Specialist, U.S. Access Board

Accessible Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) registration and information is available on the Great Lakes ADA Center’s website.

Free Online Conference: Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)

The free online conference, called ID24 (Inclusive Design 24) has sessions every hour throughout a 24 hour block of time.

Date: September 23, 2021

This conference is broadcast on YouTube. Speakers are from all around the world. Topics typically vary, but there is something for almost everyone.

No registration required.

The schedule announcement is coming soon.

Conference: M-Enabling Summit

Dates: October 4-6, 2021

Location: Washington, DC

Overview:
“The M-Enabling Summit Conference and Showcase is dedicated to promoting accessible and assistive technology for senior citizens and users of all abilities. It is an annual meeting place for all who implement digital accessibility strategies or develop enabling ICT products, services for workplaces, learning environments or consumer markets. With its theme of ‘Digital Accessibility: A Driver for Inclusion Strategies,’ the 2021 M-Enabling Summit will highlight how organizations can successfully leverage innovative enabling technologies to make their digital workplaces, learning environments and product and services accessible to users of all abilities.”

Details about online conference registration can be found on the registration page.

Key topics and more information are available on the M-Enabling Summit website.

Virtual Conference: Closing the Gap 2021

Dates: October 11-13, 2021

Location: virtual with extended on-demand access

Presentations will be announced August 1.

Visit the Closing the Gap 2021 website for more information.

Visit the Office of Accessibility website for digital accessibility information and resources. Share this newsletter with others! All are welcome to subscribe.

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