Worldwide Accessibility Standards - MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING FLASH Use Manual

•
Provide captions for narrative audio. Be aware of audio in your document that might interfere
with a user being able to listen to the screen reader. See
on page 373.
•
Ensure that color is not the only means of conveying information. In addition, make sure that
the foreground and background contrast sufficiently to make text readable for people with low
vision and color blindness.
Users with visual or mobility impairment
ensure that controls are device independent (or accessible by keyboard).
Hearing-impaired users
"Accessibility for hearing-impaired users" on page
Users with cognitive impairment
uncluttered design that is easily navigable.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Worldwide accessibility standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Macromedia Flash Accessibility web page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Understanding screen reader technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Using Flash to enter accessibility information for screen readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Viewing and creating tab order and reading order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
About animation and accessibility for the visually impaired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Using accessible components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Creating accessibility with ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Accessibility for hearing-impaired users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Testing accessible content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Worldwide accessibility standards

Many countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and countries in the
European Union, have adopted accessibility standards based on those developed by the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C publishes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,
a document that prioritizes actions designers should take to make web content accessible. For
information about the Web Accessibility Initiative, see the W3C website at www.w3.org/WAI.
In the United States, the law that governs accessibility is commonly known as Section 508, which
is an amendment to the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 prohibits federal agencies from
buying, developing, maintaining, or using electronic technology that is not accessible to those
with disabilities. In addition to mandating standards, Section 508 allows government employees
and the public to sue agencies in federal court for noncompliance.
356 Chapter 17: Creating Accessible Content
For users with either visual or mobility impairment,
For hearing impaired users, you can caption audio content. See
Users with cognitive impairments often respond best to
"Testing accessible content"
372.