Summary
An environment that is accessible and inclusive by design supports the University’s education, research, and outreach mission. However, an accessible environment may not remove barriers for every individual. That’s why an understanding of disability and accommodations is also important.
Ways to Understand Accessibility
Accessibility is everyone's responsibility. Accessible materials, environments, activities, and events feature:
- Materials that can be accessed with adaptive technologies, such as screen readers, braille displays, voice input, screen magnifiers, and more. These technologies make information and other design elements available to the user and easier to read, understand, digest, and recall
- Spaces that every person can get to, maneuver in, and use with relative ease, including wheelchair and scooter users
- Spaces optimized for information access where mics, enlarged materials, and captions make it possible for everyone in a large room to participate
- Spaces that reduce sensory stressors such as fluorescent lighting, loud noises, or scents that activate chemical sensitivities
- Activities suitable for diverse spaces and bodies, such as those that have been designed or adapted to suit space constraints and to be completed in a standing or seated position
Accessibility requires flexibility. You may not understand the inherent barriers until you are in a physical or virtual space with other participants using them.
Legal Definition
“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.
—U.S. Department of Education's Resolution Agreement, South Carolina Technical College System OCR Compliance Review No. 11-11-6002
Accommodations
Removing barriers for people with disabilities and providing accommodations is a human and legal right. See the Understanding Disability page.
Adjustments
The University's disability centers and other offices also help students with temporary health conditions and employees with temporary and situational impairments by providing suitable adjustments. See Temporary Conditions and U Return on the Twin Cities Disability Resource Center site.
Adjustments that make our environment more functional and easier to use are hardly unusual. For example, we may adjust lighting, lowering the blinds or using the dimmer switch in a space to improve visibility. Or, in order to recover from an everyday illness, such as an ear infection, we may need a more flexible schedule for a short time. Whether such adjustments entail accommodation depends upon specific features in our environment.
Accessibility as a Continuum
It may be helpful to think about accessibility as a continuum, as illustrated in the series of images below. A description of the images has been included so that everyone can access them.
Inaccessibility
The first image features three spectators at a soccer game of varying ages, races, and heights. They are watching the game from behind a fence, each standing on a crate in order to watch over the fence. A one-size-fits-all approach excludes the smallest spectator, who is unable to see over the fence because all of the crates provided are the same height. This environment is inaccessible.
Accommodations
The second image features the same group of three spectators, each using a crate of differing height in order to watch the game over the fence. This environment has been made accessible based on the specific needs of each spectator. Called “reasonable accommodations,” such adjustments meet a legal requirement for compliance. At the University, accommodations are developed in consultation with staff in the Disability Resource Center on your campus. See One DRC.
Accessibility
The third image features updates to the environment. All three spectators are able to experience the game thanks to the chain link fence and the availability of a headset that enables the visually impaired spectator to access the game through audio description of the game. The game they’re enjoying also features disabled athletes. Accessible design aims to provide equitable access and full participation to everyone to the greatest extent possible. It does not always eliminate the need for individual accommodation.
Benefits of Designing for Accessibility
Accessibility practices can help make our environment accessible to more users. However, it is still important to recognize that both accommodations and accessibility are essential to people with disabilities. See the Understanding Disability page.
Enables Equity and Inclusion
Creating accessible materials, spaces, and experiences directly impacts anyone with a disability. Including disabled people creates a more vibrant, inclusive, and participatory University community and enriches learning, research, and scholarship.
Supports UMN Values
The University of Minnesota values equity, diversity, and inclusion. Digital accessibility ensures all people, including those with disabilities, have equal access to materials, enhancing their engagement and success.
Ensures Compliance and Reduces Institutional Risk
Under federal law, students with disabilities are guaranteed equally effective learning opportunities as students without disabilities. Further, a recent Department of Justice ruling requires us to bring our course sites, websites, and other digital materials into compliance by April 2026. Creating accessible digital content averts the risk of legal consequences.
Saves Time and Resources
Proactively creating accessible content reduces the need for retrofitting and redesigning later. This saves time and resources, as fixing accessibility issues after the fact can be labor-intensive.
Reduces the Need for Accommodations
Accessibility can eliminate some of the need for accommodations, as well as the labor required of disabled people when they or we must make specific access needs known in order to participate.
- Accessibility = equal access for most people, by design
- Accommodation = different support for individual needs that have not been met, provided on request
Accessibility is proactive; accommodation is reactive. Implementing accessibility as part of the design process will reduce the need for many accommodations and make them easier to provide when they are necessary.
Improves Usability for Everyone
Accessible design often enhances the usability of digital content for all people, not just those with disabilities. For example:
- Clear structure, headings, and consistent layout help everyone navigate and comprehend information more easily.
- Captions and transcripts for videos can help people with developing skills in English or in very loud or very quiet environments where speech is difficult to understand.
- Alternative text can help people using older technologies or those who disable image loading understand the messages conveyed through graphics.
In addition:
- Accessible content is ranked higher in search results.
- Accessibility measures can be saved and transferred across platforms.
- Automated systems such as search engines can scan accessible content.
- Flexible design ensures access across devices.