4.2 Accessibility

4.2 Accessibility

It is important to begin considering accessibility from the very start of your course. If you bake-in accessibility from the very beginning, all students will benefit and you will have less to worry about later on. To put it another way, it's like building a house. If you make sure that your foundation, plumbing, and wiring are all up to code when you're constructing your house, then you will save yourself a lot of costly headaches in the future and can live happily ever after.

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There is a common misconception that because there is an office tasked with helping students who have needs, there is no need to think about implementing accessibility in our courses until we are informed that a student with needs is enrolled in our class. Unfortunately, there are three problems with this perspective:

  • Making courses retro-accessible can take even more time, effort, and cost than if accessibility was baked-in to the original design.
  • Students with disabilities may join your class too suddenly for you to have time to make your course retro-accessible.
    • Students with disabilities can enroll in your course at the last minute.
    • Students in your course may, in the middle of the semester, suffer from a sudden illness or accident that leaves them disabled (temporarily or otherwise).
    • Students may not realize they have a disability until something in their classes causes them to discover it.
    • Students who may be trying to get away from the stigmas of their disability may try to conceal their disability until the course work becomes too difficult.
  • Students with disabilities are not the only students who will benefit from a course that's designed with accessibility standards.

 

  1. Jennifer Smith, University of Florida: Accessibility Basics (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (12:59)| Download PowerPoint with Transcript
  2. Jennifer Smith, University of Florida: Download Universal Design for Learning Quick Guide: Accessibility