Accessibility
Accessibility
The internet offers many opportunities to people with disabilities that are unavailable through any other medium. It offers independence and freedom. When websites and documents are not accessible then people with disabilities may be excluded from accessing this material.
ADA and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Certain accessibility requirements must be addressed when developing learning materials for electronic dissemination to students.
Distance education courses, resources and materials must be designed and delivered in such a way that the level of communication and course-taking experience is the same for students with or without disabilities.
- By law, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, learning materials, including interfaces, images, sounds, multimedia elements, and all other forms of information, must be made available for used by anyone, regardless of disability.
- Detailed information about accessibility guidelines are available at Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Furthermore, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office issued Distance Education: Accessibility Guidelines for Students with Disabilities in January 2011.
✔ Accessibility Checklist
- Alternative text for images, charts, and graphics
- Meaningful links
- Text should describe where the link points, not be the URL
- Underlines are reserved for links and not to emphasize text
- Only link to external websites that are accessible
- Heading styles
- Short topic descriptions
- Must be sequential
- Like a page outline
- Table captions and headings
- Formatted lists (use the list icon in the editor to create lists)
- Color contrast and do not use color alone to convey meaning
- Multi-media captioning and transcription
- Word, PowerPoint, and PDFs must be accessible (PDFs must be tagged and should not be scanned images)
