University Policy

The University of Minnesota is committed to providing equitable access to information technology, digital materials, services and the environments in which information technology is used. All colleges, departments, central units and faculty are responsible for ensuring access to their Web content, Web applications, digital materials, environments and services to the greatest extent possible....

University of Minnesota Accessibility of Information Technology Policy

The policy applies to electronic information resources, technologies, and services for students, employees, guests, and visitors, including those who have disabilities.

Definition of Access

Ensuring access means that a person with a disability must be afforded the same opportunities as a person without a disability to:

• Acquire the same information
• Engage in the same interactions
• Enjoy the same services
• Experience substantially equivalent ease of use

Scope

Our accessibility policy encompasses:

1. Web-based information and services, including those associated with courses of instruction, departmental programs, University-sponsored activities, employment, administration, and university services
2. Hardware and software to be developed, purchased, or acquired by the U of M
3. Environments specific to information technology, including classroom and general-use computer facilities, online and distance learning, places of employment, libraries and resource centers

Accessibility Standards

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are largely regarded as the international standard for accessibility. 

The University's policy specifies that we implement and adhere to the W3C WCAG 2.1 level AA and ARIA 1 guidelines. You can learn more about these guidelines in several ways:

• Most people prefer to start with the one-page WCAG at-a-glance version.
• The detailed technical recommendations are extensive and comprehensive. Allow yourself time to learn them.
• The How to Meet WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference allows you to filter sections so the page only displays information relevant to your current goals. Remember, the longest journey begins with one step. You can do this!

Improve Usability

Making your digital materials accessible directly impacts anyone with a disability. It also helps:

• People developing their English language skills
• People using older technologies to access the internet
• People in very loud or very quiet environments where speech is difficult or impossible to understand
• People using mobile devices: the Pew Research Center reported that 15 percent of people aged 18-29 depend on smart phones for online access, and 10 percent of Americans rely on mobile devices as their only form of high speed Internet access.

In addition:

• Accessible content is ranked higher in search results.
• Accessible documents and transcripts can be searched by individuals and automated systems such as search engines. 
• Flexible designs ensure access for individuals with diverse abilities, learning styles, and devices.
• Diversity that includes the experiences of people with disabilities creates a more vibrant, rigorous University community and enriches research and scholarship.

In the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations calls upon countries to “promote access to information by providing information intended for the general public in accessible formats and technologies (Article 21).” Designing your digital materials with accessibility in mind helps you meet the fundamental right to information for a much broader population.

Reduce the Cost of Accommodations

• Accessibility = equal access for everyone, by design
• Accommodation = additional support for needs that have not been met

Accessibility is proactive; accommodation is reactive.  When you make accessible choices now, you will be able to support accommodations more quickly, cheaply, and effectively in the future.

Save Time and Effort in the Future

When you use correct headings or add alt text to images, those changes are saved. If you are pasting content from a Google Doc into a Canvas site, for example, the heading structure will remain intact. Creating content accessibly in the first place will save you time when you move that content into different tools or formats.

Reduce Institutional Risk

Under federal law, students with disabilities are guaranteed equally effective learning opportunities as students without disabilities. When you create accessible content, you help the University live up to the letter and the spirit of these laws and reduce the risk of legal consequences.

Information Exclusion

Creating accessible websites and digital materials reduces barriers and ensures that all users who encounter your materials can understand and interact with them.

Websites and digital materials that are not designed with accessibility in mind exclude a significant population of potential users from participating in an internet-dependent world. Unfortunately, information exclusion is a barrier people with disabilities experience on a daily basis. 

What is a Disability?

Accessibility is often discussed in the context of disability. If we're going to talk about accessibility, we need to consider how we understand disability first.

The Medical Model

People often classify disabilities by individual physical traits or function:

• Visual (blindness, low vision, color blindness)
• Auditory (deafness, hearing impairment)
• Motor (paralysis, cerebral palsy, missing limbs)
• Cognitive (learning disabilities, traumatic brain injury, dyslexia)
• Seizure (epilepsy)
• Mental health (depression, anxiety, panic attacks)

This model of classifying disabilities comes from a way of thinking known as the medical model. It sees disability as an individual problem to be fixed by medical professionals.

The Moral Model

This model defines disability as a sign of moral or religious failing - not doing enough of the right things.

The Charity Model

This model defines a disability as a tragedy. People with disabilities should be pitied and "taken care of," often away from the public eye.

The Rehabilitation Model

This model believes that people with disabilities should work hard to appear as "able" as possible, to avoid discomfort or inconvenience to individuals who do not experience the disability.

The Social Model of Disability

The models of disability described in the previous sections are inappropriate. They do not contribute to the kind of equitable and inclusive society that we strive for at the University of Minnesota.

A different way of thinking about disability began to emerge in the 1970s, when people with disabilities began publicly reflecting on their own realities. It is known as the Social Model of Disability.

In this way of thinking, disability is defined by the decisions that society makes about what makes bodies and minds valuable. Society's ideas then lead to decisions about physical spaces, technologies, laws, and policies. Those spaces, laws, and policies often exclude and discriminate against people whose minds and bodies function differently.  

In the social model of disability, society can amplify exclusion and discrimination against people with disabilities; but society also can encourage people to design a world that works well for a wider range of bodies and minds. When understood in this light, every person is responsible for contributing to the accessibility of the environment that we all share. 

How Many People Have Disabilities?

Disabilities Worldwide

This number is difficult to estimate. Many people are hesitant to disclose disabilities or don’t consider their impairments to be disabilities. According to the World Report on Disability (2011), about 20% of the world’s population experience some form of disability. The report also notes that people with disabilities have, as compared to those without disabilities:

• poorer health outcomes
• lower education achievements
• less economic participation and
• higher rates of poverty

These negative outcomes are often linked to barriers in accessing services. The United States Census Bureau reports similar statistics with 19% of U.S. citizens disclosing the presence of a disability.

Disabilities in Minnesota

In March 2017, the Minnesota State Demographic Center reports that about 10.9% of the population in Minnesota has one or more disabilities, according to the Minnesotans with Disabilities report. The most common types are:

• Ambulatory
• Cognitive
• Hearing
• Independent living
• Self-care

Age and geographic differences are wide. Disability is strongly associated with aging, so disabilities across counties varies from 6.1% in Carver County to 18.3% in Aitkin County. Minneapolis has the most people with disabilities of all cities.

Wide disparities in prevalence exist across race and cultural groups. Among typical working-age populations, disability rates range from 18-22% for Ojibwe, African-American, and Dakota populations to below 5% for Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Russian populations.

In this typical working-age group, persons with disabilities are:

• 2.6 times more likely to be unemployed
• 3.4 times more likely to be not participating in the labor force
• More than half as likely to work full-time, year-round

Disabilities at the University of Minnesota

As of 2019, over 4,000 students are registered with disability resource centers and offices across the University of Minnesota's campuses.

But these are just the tip of the iceberg, because nationally, 19.4% of undergraduates and 11.9% of graduates reported having a disability in 2015–2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

In addition, many faculty and staff members also use accommodations and experience disabilities.

For all members of the University community, the numbers reported are artificially low because:

• Some people may not identify as disabled.
• Others may not want to register with their local center.
• Many people don't know that disability accommodations exist or apply to them.
• Some people simply prefer not to talk about their disability.
• Many people prefer to avoid bureaucracy by managing disabilities on their own.

Types of Disabilities and Impairments

Disabilities can be apparent to you—or not. Disabilities can be permanent. There are also impairments that can be temporary or situational.

For instance:

• Someone born deaf is living with a permanent disability. 
• Someone with an ear infection is affected by a temporary impairment.
• A person who is struggling to hear while in a noisy workspace is experiencing a situational impairment or temporary disablement.

All are affected by access barriers, but the person with a permanent disability also has an unequal experience based on how society views and stigmatizes some bodies and minds, according to the social model of disability.

If you consider the wide range of disabilities and impairments as you design materials, you can extend access to more people in new ways.

Impacts of Inaccessible Materials

A piece of technology is only as accessible as its least accessible component.

Users with disabilities often get most of the way through a process, only to find that the end product—an inaccessible table, PDF, or online form—is unavailable to them because it lacks accessibility features.

Takeaway

Even when technology is created with accessibility in mind, users with disabilities continue to experience barriers and exclusion. It is up to all individuals to make materials accessible to everyone. In doing so, we will not only create a society of inclusion, but everyone will benefit from the increase in access.

Legally Recognized Human Right

Creating accessible digital materials—ranging from an accessible Word doc or syllabus to an organizational website to choosing an enterprise level software tool—is a basic human right recognized in the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The UN specifically calls upon countries to “promote access to information by providing information intended for the general public in accessible formats and technologies” and “encouraging the media and Internet providers to make online information available in accessible formats (Article 21).”

Laws

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Title II of the ADA requires that State and local governments (including the U of M) give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 1990. Section 504 of this law prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities receiving financial assistance from the federal government by:

• Employers (Title I)
• State and Local Governments (Title II)
• Places of Public Accommodation (Title III)

Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 504 states that "no qualified individual with a disability in the United States shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under" any program or activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by any Executive agency or the United States Postal Service.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 mandated that "all electronic and information technology used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities." Although the original intent of Section 508 was to provide accessibility in the federal sector, it has been widely accepted that colleges and universities are subject to its requirements under Title II because they almost universally receive some form of federal funding.

Section 504 includes provisions for individuals with disabilities to participate in programs and services with the use of auxiliary aids, where necessary. These aids are commonly referred to as accommodations. On the other hand, Section 508 requires that persons with disabilities have comparable access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) — a subtle but meaningful distinction.

An accommodation is…

• provided based on the specific needs of a student with a documented disability
• determined by an accommodations officer on a case-by-case basis
• provided for students whose needs require great intervention, such as live American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters or lecture transcripts for live courses
• for circumstances that are difficult to anticipate and prepare for

Accessibility is…

• the responsibility of all who create or publish digital content
• provided for all students, with no expectation of an explanation of need
• expected for disabilities that are easily anticipated

Legal Consequences

It's important to note that higher education institutions across the country have had complaints filed against them for the inaccessibility of their digital resources.

Many of these complaints have resulted in settlement agreements between the institutions and either the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights or the U.S. Department of Justice, both of which share enforcement responsibilities for the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The University of Minnesota Duluth maintains a fairly comprehensive list of those settlement agreements.