Whether you're a first year teaching assistant, or a distinguished faculty with 50 years of experience, selecting textbooks is one of your responsibilities. Would it surprise you to learn that this process, done in good faith, can result in a lack of information accessibility for your students, and not just for your students with disabilities?
Because of the textbook adoption process, the frequency with which textbooks are adopted contributes to a lack of sufficient time to create accessible versions of them. Since the publisher does not usually offer them in an accessible format, accessible text materials must be produced or acquired ad hoc.
Problem #3: For a variety of reasons, instructors do not adopt textbooks in a timely manner. Coupled with the lack of readily available accessible texts, this results in insufficient time to produce accessible materials.
As an instructor, you endeavor to give your students the most up-to-date information available. The entire enterprise of higher education is based upon the assumptions that (a) ideas must contend with one another for acceptance and (b) that knowledge is not static. From that perspective, the volatility of textbook adoption results from the very nature of the institution. The solution should preserve the diversity of knowledge in the academy and yet provide accessibility for all students.
Because traditional textbooks are not currently accessible, students who need an accessible format cannot receive one in a timely manner. This situation is not intentional. It's the nature of textbook adoption that contributes to the problem.
One reason this issue is not given more attention in higher education is because it is an issue in such a small number of cases. But this will change as more and more students access our curricula with non-traditional means. If our consumer-driven model is any indication, it is only a matter of time before the market drives us to provide more accessible curricula for all students, not just students with disabilities.
Practical Tips for Instructors and Administrators
- Decide on textbook adoptions at least 8 weeks prior to the beginning of the semester.
- Publish the information on your website so students can get to it even if you're not available.
- Consider using a textbook for at least two years.
- Let the bookstore know of your selection as soon as possible.
- As an administrator, consider a departmental textbook adoption policy. If a course is not staffed until late in the game, consider adopting a textbook prior to an instructor being appointed and require that the text be used.
- When a student with a print disability enrolls, contact DSS for options on converting your text materials.
