IT Accessibility FAQ
Introduction
This document is a work in progress. If you have questions (or answers) related to information technology in higher education, please share them on the discussion list of the IT Accessibility Constituent Group, and eventually they may be added to this document.
General
What is accessible IT?
Accessible information technology (IT) is IT that can be used by all qualified users, including those with disabilities. As growing numbers of programs, services, resources, and opportunities in higher education depend on the use of IT, the need becomes especially critical for higher education institutions to ensure their IT is fully accessible.
How do individuals with disabilities access IT?
People in general, including people with disabilities, use a wide variety of tools, techniques, and configurations for accessing IT. Their devices range from small handheld mobile devices to touchpads to laptop and desktop computers. They use various operating systems, web browsers, screen resolutions, and custom configurations including font size and color scheme. In addition, people who are unable to access IT visually may use audible screen readers or Braille output devices; people with low vision may use custom configurations such as high contrast color schemes or screen magnification; people who are physically unable to use a mouse may use keyboard alone, speech recognition, or any of dozens of alternative input devices; and people who are unable to access audible content may use transcripts and closed captions for audio and video content.
What is universal design?
Universal design is the process of designing a product, building, classroom, website, course, etc. in such as way that the broadest range of possible users can fully utilize or participate in it. Universal design tends to benefit all users (for example, captions on videos benefit the deaf or hard or hearing, but they also benefit people who are less than fluent in the language of the video, make it easier for multi-modal learners to process the video's content, and make it possible to search the video or translate it using automatic translation tools).
What questions should I be asking regarding the accessible of IT at our institution?
The following list of questions was compiled by members of the IT Accessibility Constituent Group, and is based in part on the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:
Can the application be used with only the keyboard?
Do images have appropriate text descriptions?
Do pages have a consistent look-and-feel?
Does text content have enough color contrast?
Does the content include headings and landmarks?
Do form controls and web widgets have labels?
When styling and layout is removed, is the document understandable?
Does audio content have transcripts and do videos have captions?
What do CIOs need to know about accessibility?
See the Top 10 Things CIOs Need to Know About Accessibility
What are the four principles of accessibility?
The World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 introduce four broad priciples of accessibility. These were specifically written to apply to the Web, but are applicable to other IT as well. The four principles are:
Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must be able to perceive the information being presented (it can't be invisible to all of their senses)
Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. This means that users must be able to operate the interface (the interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform)
Understandable: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface (the content or operation cannot be beyond their understanding)
Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance (as technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain accessible)
Legal and Policy
Where can I find examples of higher education accessibility policies?
EDUCAUSE has Accessibility Policies and Practices examples.
EDUCAUSE Resources
What is the IT Accessibility Constituent Group?
EDUCAUSE established the IT Accessibility Constituent Group in 2007. The group helps the EDUCAUSE community to:
Identify resources and initiatives
Develop best practices on IT accessibility, policy, assistive program and service development
Strategize pathways to approach campus-wide universal access to information available via technology
There is additional information on the IT Accessibility Constituent Group home page, including a link to subscribe to the group's discussion list.
Does EDUCAUSE have accessibility guidelines?
Yes, the EDUCAUSE Accessibility Guidelines were created in 2009 and published in EDUCAUSE Quarterly (EQ) as Guidelines for Making Web Content Accessible to All Users. These guidelines were specifically written as a supplement to the EQ Publication Guidelines, but are broadly applicable to online content in general.
How do I know whether a particular technology is accessible?
See the General section above to learn more about IT accessibility, including the types of questions to ask. Also, EDUCAUSE has created a Technology Accessibility Findings page where members can submit reports and information related to accessibility of various technologies and applications.