Colleges and universities are responsible for providing their students with the tools needed to succeed inside and outside the classroom. They should not only ensure that students are given a high-quality education; they should also offer students opportunities to build relationships with their peers, explore their interests, and participate in extracurricular activities. ADA compliance for digital experiences plays a critical role in ensuring that your institution creates an inclusive environment for students with disabilities.
The ADA and digital accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets clear digital accessibility requirements for certain entities. Specifically, Title II of the ADA requires state-funded colleges and universities to ensure that their websites and other digital media conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. This allows public postsecondary institutions to benchmark themselves against a comprehensive set of standards, removing any uncertainty about what constitutes compliant digital content.
While an equivalent regulation for private colleges has not been released, aiming for WCAG 2.1 conformance (at minimum) will ensure that your institution’s digital accessibility posture is on par with public institutions. It will also give students with disabilities the opportunity to benefit from the same learning materials as their peers.
Steps towards ADA compliance
The journey to ADA compliance can be complex, even intimidating. The key to compliance is consistency, and it starts with small steps that gradually add up and become part of your institutional culture.
1. Perform regular accessibility audits
Your website should go through accessibility audits on a regular basis. A comprehensive audit includes three types of evaluation: automated testing, manual testing, and functional testing.
Automated tests involve using a scanning tool to identify potential WCAG issues within the HTML code, such as missing alt text or insufficient color contrast. Manual tests, on the other hand, are performed by accessibility experts who more closely examine this code, as well as the website’s appearance and functionality in a browser. These experts can spot issues that an automated scanner may have missed. Finally, functional tests are performed by users with disabilities, who attempt to navigate your website and applications using assistive technology.
The tests described above will yield a report that contains a list of potential WCAG violations. Using this report, you can start implementing fixes to your website and bring it closer to ADA compliance.
2. Ensure that new content is compliant
It is best to think of digital accessibility as a continuous process. The work does not end when your existing website and mobile apps are ADA compliant; rather, every new web page, application, or piece of instructional content can introduce new compliance risks. By designing digital content with accessibility in mind, and testing for WCAG violations during development, your team can address these risks before new experiences go live.
3. Raise accessibility awareness on campus
You cannot build a culture of digital accessibility overnight; it requires a sustained effort across disciplines. Creating an accessibility-first campus starts with raising awareness of the needs of people with disabilities, particularly with regard to digital access. The next step is educating those in charge of building websites, apps, and instructional materials about the ADA and WCAG through continuous training. Finally, you need to create a feedback mechanism for potential violations spotted by end-users.
ADA compliance for a more inclusive learning environment
For educational institutions, the main goal of ADA compliance is not just the reduction of legal risk; rather, it is the creation of a campus where every student can learn regardless of their disability status. Much like building a new lecture hall, building ADA-compliant digital experiences starts with laying down a solid foundation that includes recognizing the needs of people with disabilities and the importance of WCAG conformance. With the right combination of testing, thoughtful design, and education, your institution can provide all students with equal opportunities for success.