Understand Your Duty to Make Technology Accessible

A student’s day revolves around technology, whether they are completing an assignment on a laptop, watching a video in class, reading a professor’s notes on a learning management system, or taking an online course. Without full access, students with disabilities are denied important educational tools and opportunities.

This guide is intended to help higher ed administrators, risk managers, and electronic information technology (EIT) coordinators better understand accessibility. It provides recommendations for writing EIT accessibility policies, implementation plans, and guidelines.

• Follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) standards, striving to attain as much Level AA conformance as you can.
• WCAG 2.0 guidelines are organized around four key concepts: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust (POUR).
• Institutions should hold vendors responsible for ensuring technology delivered is accessible; should require the vendor’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) and review it to validate conformance to all Section 508 guidelines.