As a faculty instructor, you and your department and institution are responsible for ensuring that your information and curricula are accessible to all students, including students with disabilities, in a timely manner. There are numerous federal and state statutes that require course content to be accessible. AT solutions and design techniques exist to provide access to virtually any type of information for a variety of disability classes.
But AT access is not enough. The other half of the equation is web and information accessibility. Attention to web accessibility has increased due to the increased use of the Internet to teach, inform, and serve.
The three main reasons accessibility should be an area of focus are:- Accessibility is the right thing to do.
- Accessibility is the smart thing to do.
- Accessibility is the legal thing to do.
The most important reason to implement accessibility is not because it's what we're legally required to do. Rather, accessibility increases learning for all students including students with disabilities. The same technology and design techniques that make information accessible to people with disabilities make information accessible to people without disabilities who use a variety of tools to access information. This is why accessibility goes beyond being a disability issue. Accessibility is an institutional responsibility that is shared by every person involved in the educational community.
Your AT responsibility includes:- ensuring proactively that your web and non-web based course materials are accessible;
- determining with your DSS office what the essential elements of your curriculum are, and when a specific accommodation would result in a fundamental alteration of an essential element;
- communicating your willingness to work with students with disabilities;
- working ad hoc with DSS when access issues arise.
You are not responsible for assessing your students for what AT accommodations they need.
Key Concept: Accessibility is a shared institutional responsibility.
