Web Accessibility:
How Higher Education is Responding to the Need

Presented by Terrill Thompson at HighEdWeb 2008.

Higher education institutions have a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that programs and services are accessible to all qualified individuals, including those with disabilities. Many research studies agree that web accessibility continues to be a problem in higher education. This presentation explores strategies that higher education institutions are taking to address this problem. It does so by examining the following:

The Need

• 600 million people with disabilities (10% of world population)
• 52.2 million people with disabilities in the United States
• 1 million college students with disabilities in the U.S.
• 3,025 complaints of disability-related discrimination filed with U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in 2006

Survey Results

• ATHEN Survey on Accessible Technology in Higher Education
• "Web accessibility" was one of six sections (58 participating institutions
• Results published in ATHEN E-Journal
• Additional results proposed for an upcoming edition of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Research Bulletin

Case Study: University of Washington

• Centralized resource: UW IT Accessibility
• Community ownership of accessibility problem: Collaboration
• Leadership by example: Office of the President (follow "Watch the Video" link for captioned videos)

Collaborative Organizations

• Access Technology Higher Education Network (ATHEN)
• EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group
• Vendor collaborations, facilitated by University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

References

• Kane, S, J. Shulman, T. Shockley, & R. Ladner (2007). A Web Accessibility Report Card for Top International University Web Sites. Proceedings of the W4A.
• Lewis, K., D. Yoder, E. Riley, Y. So, & S. Yusufali (2007). Accessibility of Instructional Web Sites in Higher Education. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 30(3).
• Thompson, T., S. Burgstahler, E. Moore, J. Gunderson & N. Hoyt (2007). International Research on Web Accessibility for Persons With Disabilities. Managing Worldwide Operations and Communications with Information Technology, USA: Information Resources Management Association.
• Thompson, T., S. Burgstahler, & E. Moore (2007). Accessibility of Higher Education Websites in the Northwestern U.S.: Current Status and Response to Third Party Outreach. Proceedings of The First International Conference on Technology-based Learning With Disability. Dayton. OH: Wright State University.