Accessibility

Presentations

The AAR has prepared some guidelines on making presentations accessible and understandable for persons with disabilities. Please see the Guidelines for Accessible Presentations.

General Computer Operation

The vast majority of computers run some version of Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac operating systems.  Microsoft operates a site at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/ with information on techniques and products available to facilitate computer operation by persons with disabilities; Apple's version is here http://www.apple.com/accessibility/.

If you find you are unable to execute a function on the website because of a disability, please contact the AAR at 1-404-727-3049 or aar@aarweb.org so that we can assist you. 

Website Design

Visually Impaired

Efforts have been made to ensure that this website is accessible to the visually impaired.  Specifically:

1. Images in the website include alternate text, so visually impaired site visitors (using browsers set to provide this alternate text) will be informed as to what those images represent.
2. Where possible, the text around an image contains sufficient information that viewing the image is not critical to understanding the page.
3. Mapped images (images on which the user can click on different parts of the image to go to different pages, such as an outline of the United States in which each state brings up a different target) have been used sparingly.  Where they have been used, their links have been duplicated in text.
4. We endeavor to use colors of sufficient contrast that the content remains clear to persons who have low vision or who are profoundly colorblind.
5. We avoid complex page layout, which may confuse programs that read the text of the page to the site visitor. 
6. While we use formatting such as font selection, italics, bold face, and underlining to aid non-visually-impaired site visitors, we avoid using formatting to encode information as it may be ignored by some Web browsing systems used by the visually impaired (e.g., "Universities with religion programs are in bold face" would be replaced by "Universities with religion programs are marked with an asterisk").
7. PDF files are used where necessary in the AAR website, and are avoided where possible.  Visually-impaired persons who wish to view PDF files should visit http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/reader/, where they will find information on accessibility functions in the Acrobat Reader.

General

The U.S. government has issued guidelines for federal agencies regarding the structure of electronic information so that it can be utilized by persons with disabilities:  section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998.  While the AAR is not a federal agency, and thus is not bound by this legislation, we do believe our website is in compliance with section 508, and intend to maintain its accessibility. We will pursue this goal using section 508, feedback from members and site visitors, and other benchmarks to guide us.

If you have difficulty using this website as a result of any disability, please contact us at support@aarweb.org, so that we may be aware of the issue and consider how it might be addressed.

Annual Meeting

Please see here for information on accessibility at this year's Annual Meeting.

The AAR has prepared some guidelines on making presentations accessible and understandable for persons with disabilities.  Please see the Guidelines for Accessible Presentations page to review these guidelines.

All meeting rooms are accessible by elevator (doors are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs) or wheelchair lift.

A limited number of guest rooms are set aside for people with disabilities. If you need disability accommodations, please indicate your specific needs in the special requests field during the housing process online or email housing@aarweb.org. Questions may also be directed to 1-404-727-7972.

Attendees with disabilities who need information regarding special assistance during the meeting, excluding hotel accommodations, should contact the Annual Meeting Planners, by phone at 1-404-727-1461, by fax at 1-404-727-7959, via e-mail at , or by surface mail c/o AAR / 825 Houston Mill Road, Suite 300/ Atlanta, Georgia 30329-4205 / USA.

Most hearing-impaired members will prefer — like most hearing users — to contact us by e-mail. Inquiries sent to aar@aarweb.org will be routed to the appropriate staff member.  Individual staff e-mail addresses are listed on the staff page of this website.

Individuals who need real-time interaction are welcome to contact us by phone or chat.

The AAR does not have a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD) or teletypewriter (TTY), but is prepared to receive calls using the voice-to-TDD relay service. Staff members have resources to familiarize themselves with how these calls are made and received, as well as with the codes (GA, SK, QQ) and situations common to voice-to-TDD phone calls.

Note to individuals outside the United States:  For billing reasons, these numbers may reject calls from some areas outside the US.  Persons not in the US should first inquire of their local telephone service whether a relay service exists to which they can dial directly.

The AAR does not maintain an open chat line, but with minimal advance warning we will be happy to set up a chat window on any of the major instant messaging services. We also have several staff members who are set up to receive SMS messages on their personal cell phones, who will be happy to use the phones for this purpose.

Privacy and Security