Alternative Media

If you are a student with a print-related disability, you may obtain all your printed materials such as textbooks, syllabi, handouts and exams in an alternate format. This service is provided by the Office of Alternate Media. In order to receive this accommodation, registered DSPS students must meet with a DSPS counselor each semester and complete an Alternate Media Request Form. In addition, you are generally required to purchase the textbooks for which you are requesting alternate formats. Students seeking these materials must be approved for the accommodation by a DSPS counselor and are encouraged to submit their media requests 4-6 weeks before the semester begins. You will be notified when materials are available for pickup. It is often the case that electronic text that is generated on campus will be provided in installments. 

Alternate Formats Available

• Electronic Text (E-Text in Microsoft Word, searchable PDF and DAISY formats)
• Digital audio files
• Braille
• Large Print
• Tactile graphics

Equipment Available

To access the above materials, the following equipment is available for loan or use on campus each semester. The accordion of information below this one titled Assistive Technology has more details on resources throughout campus for students with disabilities.

• Digital playback units – Completion of an Equipment Loan form is required.
• Braille embosser – Stationary unit available in the Assistive Technology lab
• Tactile Graphic Drawing Kit – Available for use on campus.
• Perkins Braillers, Conventional braille writers that may be useful in math, science and where literary braille is helpful for a blind student.

Adaptive Software Available

The following adaptive software is available for your convenience in accessing your alternate media.

• Jaws, a screen reader for the blind
• ZoomText, screen enlargement software for students with low vision
• Kurzweil 3000, a scan and read program
• OpenBook, a scan and read program for the blind
• Dragon Naturally Speaking, voice recognition software
• Balabolka, Text-to-speech software used by students with Dyslexia and other learning difficulties. This is freeware software that is often distributed to students for home use.

Alternate Format Timeline

Alternate formats for textbooks, syllabi, exams and other handouts require a varying amount of production time that is listed in the table below. Ideally, students should have all textbooks available on the first day of class. This is best achieved by registering early and submitting your requests 6 weeks before the semester begins. Mid-semester requests are processed in order of receipt and require the course syllabus to begin processing at the appropriate chapter.

Alternate Media Timelines 

TYPE OF ALTERNATE MEDIA	TIME REQUIRED
Learning Ally Digital Audio	1 week
E-text	3/days/chapter
Large Print Textbooks	3 days
Large Print Handouts	1 day
Braille Textbooks	6 weeks
Braille Handouts	2 days
E-text from Publisher	6 weeks
Tactile Graphics	10 days
Exams	2 days

note: This table indicates an estimate of delivery time that is required for the various media formats.
Actual time will vary depending on content complexity. 

Appeals Process

If a student feels that their request for alternate media has not been reasonably met, the student may use the Student Grievance Procedure and Due Process Policy, listed in the BCC 2013-2015 Catalog, to address their concerns.

For more information, contact:

Roberto Gonzalez, Alternate Media Specialist     rgonzalez@peralta.edu     510-981-2826

• ZoomText: screen enlargement software that magnifies text and images on a PC and has some screen reading capability. It is used by students with low vision.
• JAWS for Windows:  screen reading software that provides a nonv-visual interface to a Windows® computer by way of text-to-speech and refreshable braille. Students with low or no vision will use a screen reader.
• Kurzweil 3000-Firefly:  Text-to-speech literacy software that highlights electronic or scanned material while it is being read. This software facilitates English language learners, students with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and other learning disabilities to succeed at reading, studying and comprehension. The web-based component provides remote reading functionality and access to the student’s document library from a home computer.
• Dragon Naturally Speaking: voice recognition software that enables students to dictate commands and pros to a PC. Students with physical limitations and learning differences may benefit from this software.
• Openbook: Optical Character Recognition (OCR), software that enables blind students to scan and convert printed material to spoken text.
• Duxbury Braille Translator: Braille translation software that allows various document types to be converted to braille files which can then be sent to an embosser or provided as electronic files that may be viewed on a student’s portable braille notetaker.

Assistive Technology Lab

DSPS is in the process of restructuring lab space that is specifically designed for students requiring assistive technology in a space conducive to students with disabilities. Part of the restructuring includes the provision of workstations that are set up for students to produce their own alternate formats. Check back on this page for updates to this ongoing process.

Dedicated DSPS Computer Stations on Campus

As previously mentioned, computer stations with adaptive software and adjustable desks are provided throughout campus. Upon request, assistive technology can be placed in additional classrooms to accommodate a specific need. Students should make individual requests of their DSPS counselor or through the Office of Alternate Media. The following is a list of locations on campus where assistive technology can be found:

• Assessment Center Room 126  Jaws, ZoomText and an adjustable desk.
• Career Center  Room 243  Jaws and ZoomText and adjustable desk.
• Library, Jaws, ZoomText and Kurzweil 3000 with a CCTV & adjustable desk.
• Adaptive Technology Lab  Room 262  Jaws, ZoomText, Kurzweil 3000, OpenBook, Dragon Naturally Speaking, , and Duxbury Translator with all adjustable desks, CCTVs, 21-inch monitors, braille embosser, Perkins Braillers.
• Homework Lab Room 324   Jaws, ZoomText and Dragon Naturally Speaking with adjustable desk.
• CIS Lab and Writing Lab Rooms 313 & 323  Jaws, ZoomText and Dragon Naturally Speaking with adjustable desk.

For more information, contact:

Roberto Gonzalez, Alternate Media Specialist     rgonzalez@peralta.edu     510-981-2826 

There is no guarantee that your PDF document is accessible to assistive technology. Generally speaking, assistive technology must exam the inner structure of a PDF document in order to interpret the content and structure and then convey that information in speech. Different PDF authoring tools will unfortunately often produce different results when creating a PDF. The following are guidelines to help you modify your PDF documents to ensure accessibility.

The first thing that you must consider is whether the PDF is a searchable text document or that of an image. Image documents are not accessible and must therefore first be converted to text. If you are unable to select (or highlight) characters, words or sentences in your PDF then you likely have an image document which needs to be run through the process of optical character recognition (OCR).

Once you have a text-based PDF, then the following processes should be considered in order to verify and enhance its accessibility. Although there are various methods and tools to add tags and to adjust the reading order of PDF documents, Adobe Acrobat Pro® is assumed as the software program used to achieve accessibility in this discussion.

The TouchUp Reading Order Tool

The TouchUp Reading Order tool provides the opportunity to evaluate the reading order of the PDF document and make necessary corrections. After adding tags to a PDF document, the TouchUp Reading Order tool will identify blocks of text, headings, figures, tables, and formulas that are contained within the document structure. Additionally, if the PDF document contains images (or figures) containing pertinent information, then you can use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to add the appropriate alternate text.

While it is possible to manually add and restructure the tags in a PDF document, it is recommended to use the “Add Tags to Document” function followed by the TouchUp Reading Order tool to organize the logical flow of document information.

Show the Accessibility Tools in the Tools pain by selecting Tools and the clicking on the small down-arrow on the right-hand side of the pane. The tools that you are most likely to use are the following: Pages, Content, Forms, Document Processing, Print Production, and Accessibility. (Note if you use Adobe’s built-in OCR tool, also open the Recognize Tool.)

Open the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

1.  Turn on the navigation pane by going to View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Show Navigation Pane (F4)

2.  Show the tags by going to View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags (this displays the Tag icon on the navigation pane)

2.  If the document is not currently tagged, choose Tools > Accessibility >Add Tags to Document (or click on the Tag icon on the panel and then right-click on the “No tags available” icon and choose Add Tags to Document)

3.  To modify the reading order, select Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order. (You can also select the TouchUp Reading Order tool from the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click a highlighted region, or from the Options menu in the Order tab.)

This will open the tool panel in which to make the necessary corrections to the tagged information in the PDF document.

Information within the PDF document will be identified as separate regions with a number in the upper left part of the region.  This number identifies the logical reading order of the text flow of the document.

Click Show Order Panel to see the reading order for all the pages in the document.

Adding Content with the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

When you initially open the TouchUp tool, the PDF document will display the various content regions and the reading order in which the regions will be recognized.  However, it may be possible that during the tagging process, some content is missed by the “Add Tags to Document” process, requiring the adjustment of the PDF tag structure.

1.  Open the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order).

2.  Identify the region of text content that is not part of the page structure (e.g., content will not be within a grayed box).  In the example below, the information not part of the page structure is not surrounded by a gray box and includes the text: “To check conversion settings:”.

 

3.  Using the cross-hairs, draw a box around the text information.  Make sure that all the text information you wish to include is encompassed by blue squares.

 

4.  Select the type of content using the reading order panel.

5.  After you have identified the content type, you will be able to see a region encompassing the area you selected.  In the example below, the region in question is now surrounded by a gray box and has a number value in the upper left corner.

The TouchUp Reading Order tool can be used to add headings, text, figures, tables, and form fields.  It is the decision of the author/designer as to how specific they wish to identify the information in the document.

Removing Content with the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

In some cases, it will be necessary to remove content from the document structure.  Content that is appropriate for removal may be visual images that are not relevant to the content (e.g., “eye-candy”), information that is misrecognized by the Add Tags to Document tool and does not contain value, or when temporarily separating regions for restructuring.

1.  Open the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order).

2.  Using the cross-hairs, draw a box around the region of content you wish to remove from the document structure.  Remember, by removing information from the document structure you are not allowing this information to be utilized by assistive computer technologies and potentially limiting accessibility.

3.  In the TouchUp Reading Order dialog window, select the “Background” button.  This will remove any gray regions from around the content as well as remove the content from the document structure. 

Reclassifying Content with the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

After running the Add Tags to Document function, you may wish to reclassify the information or correct any mistakes the “Add Tags” process may have created.  For instance, it is possible that the “Add Tags” process identifies each region on a page as a “Figure”, which may not be the true nature of the content.  (A description of the different content options is listed in the Adobe Acrobat Help menu, under “TouchUp Reading Order Options”)

In addition to correcting the designation of the content, you may wish to create Bookmarks from the different headings within the document.  By specifying the correct content as headings using the TouchUp Reading Order tool, it is possible to automatically create a list of Bookmarks.

Reclassifying a Region

1.  Open the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order).

2.  If reclassifying the entire region, click on the number in the upper left corner of the highlighted region.  In the TouchUp Reading Order palette, identify the new content type (e.g., Text, Figure, Formula, etc.).

3.  The selected region will change to the newly identified content type. 

Reclassifying a Part of a Region

1.  Open the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order).

2.  Using the cross-hairs, draw a box around the content you wish to change the document structure.  Make sure that there is a blue outline around all the content you are changing.

3.  In the TouchUp Reading Order palette, identify the new content type (e.g., Text, Figure, Formula, etc.).

4.  The regions should now split into two (or more) distinct regions.  Regions can be noted by the gray box surrounding the content as well as a number in the upper left corner.

Controlling Reading Order with the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

Adding tags to a PDF document improves the accessibility of the document by providing structure and controlling the order in which information is presented to the user.  However, when using the “Add Tags to Document” tool, the result can vary based on the layout complexity of the page.  As a result, it may become necessary to reorder information using the TouchUp Reading Order tool such the content is presented in a logical manner.

There are several methods for evaluating the logical reading order or the PDF document content.  You can save a PDF document as text and read the information, review the identified regions with the TouchUp tool, or inspect content using the “Order” navigation tab.

Save as Text

1.  Choose “File” from the menu bar and select “Save As”.

2.  Under the “Save File As Type” menu, choose “Text (Accessible)”.

3.  Open the text file to review for errors in the logical flow of the document.

This method will extract the text content of the PDF document (and associated alt-tags) and provides a method to assess the presentation order of information in the PDF document.  While this is not a precise test for logical reading order, it can be used to quickly examine if there are major errors in how document content may be rendered by assistive computer technology. 

Using the TouchUp Reading Order Tool

1.  Open the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order).

2.  Identify the two regions which are out of the correct reading order.  Move the cross-hairs to the number in the upper left corner of the region you wish to move (the pointer should change to a “hand” icon).

3.  Click and drag the number to the new location within the other specified region.  The icon will change to a “caret” icon to assist you with precise placement of the content.  You may need to zoom into the document in order to ensure correct placement.

4.  The regions will automatically re-number to show the order in which information will be organized in the PDF document structure.  However, the regions will NOT move visually on the PDF document.

Using the Order Tab

1.  Select “View” on the menu bar and choose “Navigation Tabs”.  Select “Order”.

2.  The Order tab will demonstrate each page and the associated content on each page.  Child elements on each page represent the specific regions of content and are numbered sequentially.

3.  Move the child element to its appropriate position on the specific page.  This will reorder the sequence of the regions in the PDF document structure and change the logical reading order.

Content that is changed in the Order tab will also be changed in the Tags tab.  However, the information in the Order tab is more specific to the content of the page rather than the structural elements of the page.  When you need to change specific structural elements (e.g., language setting, etc.), it is necessary to use the Tags tab.

For more information, contact:

Roberto Gonzalez, Alternate Media Specialist     rgonzalez@peralta.edu     510-981-2826

As a community college, we are mandated by Section 508, to provide our students who are hard of hearing or deaf, equal access to all video material. To that end, since 2001, it has been the policy at Berkeley City College to purchase only captioned videos. In addition, videos in the library collection purchased before 2001, are being replaced.

Faculty Concerns

A clarification regarding Section 508 compliance was provided by Ralph Black, former Assistant General Counsel to the State Chancellor of Community Colleges.

• All videos purchased since January 1st, 2001 must be captioned; 

• Since June 1, 2004, any video purchased that is not captioned must be captioned before it is shown in a classroom, whether there is a deaf student attending the class or not.

Instructors should continue to buy only captioned videos. If they are not available, a vendor is listed below. Because the cost of captioning can be prohibitive, we recommend purchasing a new video when available, if the older video is not captioned. If you choose to caption an older film, you must secure the permission of the distributor before captioning, to protect the copyright.

Compliance with Section 508 also means, if your personal website contains video material with audio, it must also be captioned. If your distance education classes use video material, it must be captioned. Please keep in mind, though interpreters are provided for our students with hearing disabilities, they are no substitute for captioned videos. Your help in providing this service for the hard of hearing is greatly appreciated by the students and the staff of DSPS and we welcome your questions and concerns. Listed below is faculty outreach provided about closed captioning.

Vendor for Captioning Videos

Berkeley City College works with different vendors including RapidText and Automatic Sync Technologies to produce captioned videos. Cost will vary depending on the availability of a written transcript or whether the vendor will first need to produce a transcript.

• http://www.rapidtext.com/
• http://www.automaticsync.com/captionsync/

Thanks to a California Community College system-wide grant, videos that are part of a course that has a distance education component to them can qualify for captioning at no cost to the college. Both vendors are certified DECT vendors and can assist with the application process. You may contact the Office of Alternate Media at Berkeley City College for more details on turn-around times, etc.

For more information, contact:

Roberto Gonzalez, Alternate Media Specialist      rgonzalez@peralta.edu    510-981-2826