ADA web accessibility changes pose challenges to faculty, university programs
UC Davis administration is implementing support programs to streamline institutional transitions
By THOMAS WU — campus@theaggie.org
Facing new federal guidelines for accessibility requirements for digital materials, UC Davis administrators and instructors are working to update materials and technology systems to meet compliance.
The new, stricter accessibility requirements are governed by the updated rules for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and call for compliance by public institutions — including the University of California (UC) system — before April 24. The UC’s Office of the President (UCOP) has accordingly updated the UC’s Policy IMT-300, a digital compliance policy in place since 2013, to keep UC campuses aligned with the ADA Title II.
UC Davis’ Digital Accessibility Program Manager Brad Starkey-Owens said that staff have worked to implement changes over the past year to meet the deadline.
“What accessibility really is is a cultural shift toward implementing it at every step of the content creation process,” Starkey-Owens said. “So, in that sense, it's a marathon. We're trying to train people to move the needle on how people think about accessibility.”
The updates to the ADA rule introduce the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Version 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for web accessibility practices. WCAG’s accessibility recommendations are framed around four key principles, requiring content to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. These principles encompass adaptations to web content structure, including proper heading hierarchies and sequences, text color and size formatting, captions and descriptions.
These recommendations assist screen readers in content navigation and serve as an important resource for users with visual impairments or cognitive disabilities who require digital element conversions to speech or Braille.
For university faculty and staff, including UC Davis Mathematics Professor and Lecturer Rohit Thomas, adjusting course web content to fit accessibility guidelines has demanded increased time commitment and workloads.
“I think everybody agrees that our web content should be accessible,” Thomas said. “But making things truly accessible can't be automated, so faculty need to spend time learning about how to make things accessible and then spend time making things accessible. The hope is that all that time is well-spent — that the time we spend on this pays off in terms of making all our material more accessible to everybody.”
Thomas and the Department of Mathematics utilize the platform LaTeX to format mathematical symbolizations and formulas within PDFs. While other departments in the UC face issues with integrating accessibility into LaTeX use, Thomas noted that the LaTeX Tagged PDF Project has made strides in enabling accessible and structured PDF creation.
But for other faculty, like UC Davis Asian American Studies Associate Professor and Department Chair Susette Min, making the accommodations remains demanding.
“The ADA requirements will be challenging and take time to implement as I teach a number of art history and visual culture courses,” Min said. “I also anticipate there will be some challenges converting PDFs and providing closed captions, especially on older films and videos.”
UC Davis currently provides resources and guidance to staff and faculty attempting to streamline the web accessibility transitions. The Information Technology Accessibility Policy Program (ITAPP) Committee currently meets biweekly, evaluating decisions about gaps in existing resources and finding additional tools and resources to fill the gaps. Some of these resources include online training sessions and additional prerecorded training provided by UCOP.
Conflicts continue to rise as some educators face difficulties in finding the financial capital to fund needed changes to software and online materials.
Starkey-Owens and the ITAPP Committee noted that they are always concerned about cost, especially under budget shortages across UCs and other public institutions.
“We're really doing our best to make sure every dollar we spend toward accessibility goes as far as it possibly can,” Starkey-Owens said. “We don't have time to wait for resources, whether that's from UCOP, or by some miracle, federal dollars [will] land in our lap for it. So, we're doing everything we can to leverage the resources and the tools we have.”
Sama Golani, a third-year psychology and human development major who serves on the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD) Disability Justice Committee, shared that, while she notices many accessibility issues on campus, she understands the role of budget limitations.
“We need accessibility,” Golani said. “It is extremely expensive, but you can't put a price on accessibility because it's something that's not just necessitated — it's required. We need to have full accessibility, but with our budgetary constraints, we really struggle to create the change that needs to happen.”
For UC Davis educators, the objective of a wider, cultural shift toward accessibility remains in-progress through the challenges.
“To use an overused phrase, we're very much ‘flying the plane while we build it,’” Starkey-Owens said. “It takes a long time to get these things going, so we're just seeing these things start to come to fruition.”
Written by: Thomas Wu — campus@theaggie.org