2017 ASHS Annual Conference

In an effort to provide accessibility to visually impaired and deaf/hard of hearing students, federal and state laws now require all institutions of higher education to provide all instructional course content be presented in an accessible format. By 2018, these requirements apply to every class offered, whether or not there is a student present with a disability. The use of style formats, documents formatted with optical character recognition, alternative text and descriptions, closed captioning, and limited use of color are a few of the methods that may be included to meet these new requirements. Complying with these mandates may result in both financial strain on departments and time limitations on faculty. To assist with implementation of these regulations, a review of potential compliance alternatives will be explored.