Accessibility

Reasons to create accessible materials:

• Creating accessible materials is crucial to ensure that individuals with disabilities can fully access the information within your materials. However, it's important to note that these changes not only benefit students with disabilities but also cater to the diverse learning needs of all students. 

• Altering the structure of your text can greatly assist students for whom English is not their first language, making the content more comprehensible and inclusive.

• Adding captions to your content not only benefits students with hearing loss but also supports students who are not textual learners. Captions provide an additional layer of accessibility, allowing students to engage with the content effectively and reinforcing comprehension.

• By implementing these accessibility measures, you create an inclusive learning environment that supports the needs of all students, regardless of their abilities or learning preferences. Basing educational materials and approaches in accessible practices is better for everyone-- because everyone learns differently and benefits from more flexibility and modes of information-sharing. This is the underlying, science-based principle of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

• It's the Law.  Section 504 regulations prohibit postsecondary institutions from engaging in certain discriminatory actions that interfere with providing comparable aids, benefits, and services. Aids, benefits, and services must be “equally effective”—i.e., they must provide students with disabilities “an equal opportunity to obtain the same result, gain the same benefit, or reach the same level of achievement." In addition, the regulations prohibit postsecondary institutions from using discriminatory “criteria and methods of administration—i.e., discriminatory “written or formal policies” and “actual practices and procedures.” 

Accessibility Resources

• Accessibility Checklist

• Accessibility Course

• Accessibility Rubric

• Contrast Checker

• Fix Basic PDF Accessibility Issues using Adobe 17

• Open Source Resources about Accessibility and How to Address Issues

• Shared Accessibility Resources

Creating Accessible Files

• Checking Accessibility with Microsoft Word

• Checking Accessibility with Microsoft Word- Online

• PDF Accessibility

• Using Alternative Formats in Brickfield Accessibility