3.6 - Accessibility: Both Federal and State Requirements

  • Reading time: 3 min.
  • Video time: optional 1 hour

Accessibility isn't icing on top of our class cakes. It's a basic ingredient that needs to be baked into every class. Please click on the tabs to learn more:

It may seem difficult to fully achieve, but it is (stated simply) a requirement that online instructional materials and tools are accessible to people with disabilities. As a June 2018 letter from the CCC Chancellor Links to an external site. noted, this mandate is rooted in federal and state regulations: 

... the California Community Colleges has adopted a new Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (Standard), which reinforces the requirement that colleges within the system create, purchase, and utilize instructional materials that comply with the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, in accordance with California Government Code §7405, Government Code §11135, Government Code §11546.7, as well as with best practices.

Further, although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 does not explicitly call out website accessibility, courts have widely interpreted the provisions of the ADA requiring equal access to places of "public accommodation" for people with disabilities as including websites along with physical spaces. The University of Minnesota maintains a long list of Higher Ed Accessibility Lawsuits, Complaints, and Settlements Links to an external site. regarding web content and technologies.

Most typically, you'll hear "Section 508" or just "508" used as shorthand to refer to the requirements for accessible websites and technologies. These requirements are aligned with an independent body's standards known as WCAG ("weh-cag"), the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. WCAG 2.0 is the standard most typically used at present (2023), though the more stringent standards of WCAG 2.1 may eventually become the standard.

Webaim.org Links to an external site. provides excellent guidance and resources on web accessibility in general, Links to an external site. WCAG standards Links to an external site., and tips for ensuring that resources created with different technologies are accessible Links to an external site..

It's important to note that the ideal of accessibility and the regulations that enforce this are different for classroom-based instruction vs. online instruction. Serving students with disabilities in the classroom is often based on the idea of accommodation - reactive support when a student in need is identified. In contrast, online resources are generally required to comply with accessibility requirements regardless of whether a student with a disability is known to be enrolled in a particular online class. California Title 5 § 55200 Links to an external site., which defines distance education, also provides the following definition of "accessible": 

“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. The person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally and independently as a person without a disability. Although this might not result in identical ease of use compared to that of persons without disabilities, it still must ensure equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of such technology.

Though there may be some nuance to this, in general, instructors teaching online should make every effort to create and use online tools and materials that comply with accessibility standards.  A California audit report in 2017 Links to an external site. found that based on its audit of three CCCs:

Community colleges are not adequately monitoring compliance with accessibility standards, and the Chancellor’s Office should provide additional guidance to assist community colleges in supporting students with disabilities.

The CCCCO created a brief Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard Links to an external site. in 2020 that is worth reviewing. Later in this handbook, practical guidance and resources are discussed that can help faculty to comply with these mandates.

For baseline practical guidance and links to learn more about how to ensure your online learning environments comply with accessibility requirements, please see handbook pages 7.3 Introduction to Accessibility and 7,4 Learning to "Do" Accessibility - Technical.

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