Accessibility: Unlocking Our Potential

[John Locke]

You may recall reading in our previous Digest posts that* "ADA compliance
is not only the law, it's also the right thing to do."*

Understanding the basics of accessibility law nevertheless remains
important. So, for the remainder of this academic year, we'd like to focus
on the law and ways to mitigate risks involved with non-compliance, in
order to do right by our students and colleagues.

*A Case in Point: Federal Accessibility Settlement with MOOC Provider*
The United States Department of Justice released an article
<https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/united-states-reaches-settlement-provider-massive-open-online-courses-make-its-content>,
“United States Reaches Settlement with Provider of Massive Open Online
Courses to Make its Content Accessible to the Disabled.” The article
discusses the Department’s settlement with edX Inc. <http://www.edx.org/> to
fix alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The agreement resolves allegations that edX’s website and its platform for
providing MOOCs were not fully accessible to individuals with disabilities,
in violation of Title III of the ADA.  The settlement requires that
edX "provide accurate captioning for the deaf, oral navigation signals for
the blind, and programming changes so those with dexterity disabilities can
navigate content without struggling with a hand-operated mouse."

Title III of the ADA requires public facilities to find ways to guarantee
that persons with disabilities are not prohibited, refused any assistance,
isolated, or in any case treated differently because of the absence of
auxiliary aids and services.

*Implications for Our College*
In order to be compliant—and avoid liability—with respect to all electronic
media, institutions like ours must provide precise captioning of video
content for the deaf, as well as audio descriptions and oral navigation
signals for the visually impaired, and programming accommodations that
ensure that those with dexterity disabilities have an alternative method
for navigating content aside from a traditional mouse.

In our March 3rd Employee Digest post, we will discuss how edX.com could
have addressed the issues before they became a liability.

*More Deque Achievers!*
*Congratulations *to Michelle Bonati, Heather Keane, Jennifer Bleaux,
Jennifer Curry, Lee Rabideau, and John McMahon for completing Deque
University's Customer Service for People with Disabilities 1.0 curriculum.
For their achievements, each has received an *Accessibility: Unlocking Our
Potential* t-shirt! While the t-shirts are almost gone, the real reward is
valuable training that benefits our colleagues and students.

Remember, *Deque University <http://dequeuniversity.com/> accessibility
courses and curricula are available to all faculty and staff through the
middle of August*. To enroll, simply follow the link above and log-in using
your Plattsburgh email address. Click “forgot password” and create a new
one that you’ll remember.

*There are plenty of seats for our students as well.* Already more than
thirty student employees from Feinberg Library and Information Technology
Services have become certified in providing customer service for people
with disabilities. Dr. Gambino's students from *CSD 443 Aural
Rehabilitation* are also planning to attend. Dr. Gambino writes,

Students are learning the foundational information related to working with
individuals with hearing loss.  Most of these students will go on to
graduate school in speech language pathology and audiology and will work
with individuals in need of various accessibility accommodations, both
directly related to their scope of practice and outside of it. I am hopeful
that completing these learning modules will help students in becoming well
rounded clinicians and providing the best possible care to their future
patients.


*No matter the discipline, all of our students and colleagues can benefit
from this important training. *For more information on enrolling your
students, email Dr. John Locke at jlock004 at plattsburgh.edu.

Be sure to watch for the Employee and Student Digests every other Friday
for our bi-monthly articles, updates, and activities.

Regards,
John Locke, Ph.D.
Coordinator, TEL
EIT Accessibility Officer

Yasmina Elgendy
TEL/EIT Intern
Majors in Accounting and Management Information Systems
Minor in Finance
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