Making Materials Accessible for all Students
The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) requires that the use of technology be accessible by all populations. In education, this means that all students will be given equal access to all educational materials. Over time, several rulings and precedents have been established that mandate schools and universities work proactively to make all their educational materials accessible. In many cases, the strategies used to make materials accessible benefit all students. Recent rulings have established that materials developed by students that are used or referenced by other students also need to be made accessible. The fines and costs related to lawsuits for non-compliance can be quite large.
Developing accessible materials involves understanding why accessibility for students may be an issue, knowing what strategies can be used to make materials more accessible, and getting into the habit of implementing these strategies as part of the normal course development and delivery process.
Guiding Questions
- How can students be hampered by materials that are not accessible?
- What are different tools and strategies I can use to ensure my materials are accessible?
- Where can I go to learn more?
What is in This Handbook?
- Color Blindness
- Transcripts and Closed Captioning
- Images
- Wrapping Images
- Links
- Headings & Styles
- Portable Document Format (PDF)
- Basic HTML
- Pasting from Word
- Additional Resources