What is accessibility?
When we say something is accessible, we simply mean that people with disabilities can use it. Specifically, they can 1) perceive, 2) understand, 3) navigate, and 4) interact with it.
What does accessibility look like?
Accessibility for online courses looks like:
- Webpages and course materials that are usable by screen readers
- Captions and/or full transcripts for videos and audio files
- Webpages and course materials that are navigable without the use of a mouse
- Proper contrast between the text color and background color
- Alternative text for images
- Tables and presentations that are built in a logical reading order
Why does it matter?
Students with disabilities cannot get full benefit from inaccessible course materials. By law, if a student has approved accommodations through the school’s disability services, the school is required to provide those accommodations. This could require a lot of work with a short turnaround time if course materials are not developed with accessibility in mind. If course materials are accessible from the start, no further action is required for students with accommodations.
The most common question regarding accessibility is “Why do we need to consider screen readers since there are no blind nurses?” Screen readers, or text-to-speech technologies, are used for many reasons, not just by people who are blind. Students with ADHD or learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, can benefit from screen readers and/or text-to-speech technologies. Also, the ADA-compliant format for a screen reader is the same format that makes materials accessible for keyboard-only navigation. This accommodates people who do not use a mouse due to physical impairments, and there are nurses who need this accommodation.
Additionally, students without disabilities may benefit from accessibly designed courses and course materials. For example, an English as another language (EAL) student may use captions or transcripts to read at their own pace and help them learn new vocabulary words.
Is accessibility hard to achieve?
If you start with accessibility in mind, creating accessible materials takes no more time than creating inaccessible ones. Extra time and effort is only required when you must go back and change inaccessible material into accessible material.
Examples of accessibility changes
The following are examples of changes that may be made to a document or course page to make it accessible.
- Underlined text is now in bold or italics because screen readers can confuse underlined text with hyperlinks.
- Text color is darker or lighter to increase the contrast ratio between the text and the background.
- An unformatted list is now a bulleted or numbered list so that a screen reader will recognize it as a list and announce its beginning and end.
- Large bold font used as a heading is now a built-in heading style so that a screen reader will recognize it as a heading and announce the document structure.
- A long URL is replaced with hyperlinked text so that a screen reader doesn’t read every letter in the URL.
- An obscure reference to a hyperlink (e.g., “Click here”) is revised for clarity.
- A table is now free from split or merged cells because screen readers may not be able to accurately read these cell types in a logical order.
- Colors or images used to convey information are replaced or a media alternative is added.
- Multiple styles of emphasis are condensed into one or two styles.
- Fill-in-the-blank options have an entry field added.
- A description of an image or a graphic has been requested for entry as alternative text.
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