Accessibility is about more than compliance with standards, though. It’s about developing solutions to meet the needs of all users, with and without disabilities. Many learners don’t have specific accommodations, but intuitively gravitate toward learning practices in which they have been most successful in the past. Making accessibility a priority enables all students to learn.

“While our 2022 analysis saw small decreases in the number of detected accessibility errors and WCAG conformance failures, significant work remains to be done to make the web accessible to everyone,” the report3 concludes.

In fact:

• More than 61 million Americans live with some type of disability, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)4.
• 19% of undergraduate students in the United States report having a disability, the National Center for Education Statistics reported5.
• 90% of websites remain inaccessible to users who rely on assistive technology6.
• WebAIM reported that 98.1% of the top 1 million websites’ home pages have accessibility issues7.
• Two-thirds of higher education students with disabilities do not inform their school, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES8) found.

“People with disabilities deserve to have an equal opportunity to access the services, goods and programs provided by government and businesses, including when offered or communicated through websites.

“We have heard the calls from the public on the need for more guidance on web accessibility, particularly as our economy and society become increasingly digitized,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release10 issued in March 2022.

Perceivable: This refers to alt text for non-text content, captions for multimedia, that content can be presented in different ways (assistive technology) without losing meaning, and that it is easier for users to see and hear content.

Operable: This guideline is about keyboard functionality, the amount of time content is presented, eliminating content that can cause physical reactions (like seizures), and making it easier to navigate and find content, and enabling users to use inputs other than keyboards.

Understandable: To make content understandable, it should be readable, appear in predictable ways, and help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Robust: This principle means that institutions should maximize compatibility with current and future user tools.

Another framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), is focused on teaching and course development that provides equal learning opportunities and helps remove hurdles in the learning process. WCAG and UDL combine to create flexible, inclusive environments.

“UDL is similar to universal instructional design and universal design for instruction. All three advocate for accessible and inclusive instructional approaches that meet the needs and abilities of all learners,” the Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation notes15. 

YuJa Panorama embodies the principles of Universal Design by automatically offering numerous ways for learners to access their content without putting an additional burden on instructors or instructional designers.

All colleges and universities should ensure their digital presence – including their LMS, website, intranet, library, and other tools – align with WCAG and UDL standards to truly help create an equitable learning environment for all learners.