Accessibility & Universal Design

Accessibility Training

• Monthly Accessibility Webinar Series
• TBR Brightspace course on Accessibility
• Tutorial for Making Online Learning Accessible to Students with Disabilities

What is Universal Design for Learning?

“Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. ” (CAST.org).  Universal design for learning is more inclusive of all differences. Accessibility is still part of UDL, but UDL is also concerned about improving education for students with differences in experience, language, and culture. Read more about UDL.

Articles

• UDL: A Powerful Framework published Jan. 6, 2020, in Faculty Focus

Tools

See the webpage on Blackboard Ally: an accessibility checking tool for your D2L Brightspace course.

Live (auto) captioning available in Microsoft Teams and Zoom web conferencing. 

Training & Resources  

• Pellissippi State Community College Accessibility Policy
• Tips on making your presentation or training accessible at Pellissippi State
• Library accessibility resources on developing accessible MS Office documents and closed-captioning videos
• Educational Technology Services (ETS) Accessibility website
• STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) accessibility 
  • Accessible Science interactive simulations
  • Pellissippi Math Faculty presentation on accessible equations and graphs
• Accessibility Quick Guide
• Accessibility for Visual Designers, UX Design and Content Design
• Microsoft Sway – makes accessibility of your presentations easier!
  • Sway FAQs
• Recorded Webinar: Ask the Accessibility Expert
• Accessibility how-to’s for documents (web, MS Office and PDF), can be found on the National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE) website.

The Laws

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 794  is designed to eliminate discrimination on the basis of handicap in any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. 
  • Title 34 -Section 104 of the Code of Federal Regulations is the Dept. of Education’s enforcement of Section 504 for education. 

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended 

• Title II  – ADA Title II applies to State and local government entities, and, in subtitle A, protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs, and activities provided by State and local government entities. Title II extends the prohibition on discrimination established by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 794, to all activities of State and local governments as well as educational institutions regardless of whether these entities receive Federal financial assistance.  
• Title III – ADA Title III prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public, including institutions of higher education).  

The Accessibility Standards/Guidelines

• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, is a set of accessibility standards that the Federal Government offices are required to adhere to in order to make all of their electronic information and communication accessible.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), are the most widely known and adopted web accessibility standards.