The NIMAS Technical Assistance Center is pleased to provide guidance to grant applicants who are required to comply with the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). Many resources are available to help you as you create accessible structured instructional materials. NIMAS content can then serve as a "single source file" for the production of alternate format materials including braille, large print, digital audio, or Web site documents.
The NIMAS may be used to create instructional materials such as software manuals, workbooks, and textually-based activities. The NIMAS specification is based on a set of XML tags. Once this markup has been included, reuse of the content is relatively straightforward.
NIMAS-conformant files may be transformed into Web-based content that meets the 
Section 508 standards or the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative. Note that the current recommendation is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0; however, WCAG 2.0 is in draft form, so it may be helpful to consider both.
In addition to transforming NIMAS content for posting on the World Wide Web, braille production software and text-to-speech programs can be used to produce alternate formats either in-house, or by contracting with third parties. The NIMAS Web site resources on Content Development and Design may prove helpful as you explore NIMAS content creation and transformation options.
As an outcome of this project, we are committed to creating content that will be fully accessible to individuals with print reading disabilities. In order to offer accessible instructional materials that are flexible and may be transformed into a variety of alternate formats, we will comply with the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) as referenced in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Providing instructional materials that comply with the NIMAS will permit an accessible and rich reading experience for the stakeholders to whom project materials will be distributed.
Note that this language is provided as a service to the community, but we can offer no guarantees regarding the Department of Education's agreement with, or support of, this language.
The NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance Centers, located at CAST, are available to answer questions and assist you with the creation of NIMAS content. Please feel free to communicate with us regarding inquiries. Contact CAST at:
NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance Centers
CAST, Inc.
40 Harvard Mills Square Suite 3
Wakefield, MA 01880-3233
Phone: (781) 245-2212
nimas@cast.org
The NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance Center, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), works with states, TA systems, disability advocates, national associations, technology experts, publishers and content conversion houses to improve the timely delivery of high quality accessible educational materials to students with disabilities.The NIMAS Center was launched on October 1, 2004.The project officer for both the Development and TA Centers is Bonnie Jones, Ed.D. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the Department of Education's position or policy.