Humanities and Social Sciences

Accessibility and disability

"Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web" (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, 2009).  

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  • Benefits of e-learning and web accessibility
  • Old L&T bits
  • Old L&T bits
  • How to create accessible online resources
  • Old L&T bits
  • References and useful websites

If you have any questions about the information on this page, please contact emily.bennett@port.ac.uk (Senior Online Course Developer). For information about the accessibility of library resources, please contact  linda.jones@port.ac.uk (University Librarian).

 

Benefits of e-learning and web accessibility

Disabilities may include dyslexia, blind or partially sighted, deaf or hearing impaired, wheelchair user or mobility difficulty, Asperger syndrome, mental health difficulty, unseen disability (e.g. epilepsy or asthma) or multiple disabilities. 

Online e-learning resources have the potential to greatly assist disabled learners in overcoming challenges and barriers to higher education.  Not only can e-learning offer flexibility and adaptability, it can promote freedom, independence and individualized learning, and hence provides a more inclusive learning environment (Seale, 2006). 

There are many examples, such as those highlighted in a recent study by Seale, Draffan and Wald (2008):-

 

  • The flexibility of electronic resources can benefit many disabled learners. For example, providing texts in an electronic format not only enables a blind or partially sighted student to enlarge the text or use a screen reader, it also enables a dyslexic student to adapt the presentation to suit their needs (e.g. change the background colour, font, layout). 

 

  • Students with a physical disability related to their mobility can access resources online, such as books and journals, and so learn without having to come into the University or carry heavy books.

 

  • Dyslexic students benefit from multimedia, graphical and visual resources, which are more suited to their learning style than traditional text-based resources.  

 

  • Providing materials online both before and after the lecture gives disabled learners additional time to plan and learn at their own pace.

 

  • Access to online materials means that students are not ‘singled out’ by having to ask.

 

  • And, off-course, these benefits also help students who do not have a disability. For example, although multimedia resources will help dyslexic students, most other students will also benefit from the way in which these resources can ‘bring a subject to life’.  Also, providing resources in multiple formats is also highly recommended because of the range of devices (e.g. computers, smartphones, netbooks etc) that all students may be using.

 

However, while technology can remove barriers, it can also create new ones if a disabled learner’s disability prevents them from accessing the resources.  

This is why ‘web accessibility’ is important.  In general terms, “web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web” (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, 2011). 

Or in other words, it is about giving disabled learners the same opportunity to understand the subject as students who do not have disabilities.  This is in line with the Social model of understanding disabilities, which asserts that the barriers that disabled people face are actually caused by a mismatch between the person and the environment (Seale, 2006). 

 

Challenges faced by disabled learners

The challenges faced by disabled learners depend on the nature of their disability and the situation.  Unavailability of assistive technologies or technical problems may be a problem, however, poorly designed inaccessible resources also present challenges, for example:-

 

  • Resources (e.g. Power Points and Word documents) that can’t be accessed with a screen reader or keyboard navigation techniques may present problems for blind or partially sighted students or students with dexterity impairments.

 

  • If the audio is crucial to understanding a resource and no alternative is provided, this will create problems for students with hearing impairments.

 

  • Blind or partially sighted students may have problems with videos, diagrams and animations if no alternative is provided.

 

  • Resources that use dense text and limited graphics and multimedia may present challenges for dyslexic students.

 

This is based on Goode (2007) and case studies, including WebAim (2011), Disabled Student Diaries (2003), Student Experiences (2011), DART case studies (2011), Kaplan (2011) and Geography Discipline Network (2004),.  

 

Legislation and policy

Web accessibility is covered by the Equality Act that came into force in November 2010.  A higher education (HE) institution must not discriminate against a student with a disability by treating them less favourably due to their disability.  If a HE institution does not make ‘reasonable adjustments’ and as a result the student is placed at a significant disadvantage, then it can be considered that discrimination has occurred.

For further details, please see:-

 

 

The slide show above is a summary of a key presentation from Brian Kelly (Web Focus) that gives more detail about how to approach accessibility.

 

How to create accessible resources

The easiest approach to web accessibility is to always take it into consideration when designing resources, rather than trying to fix problems later! 

If you have a specific student in mind, then talk to them and watch them using the computer before looking at generic guidelines.

Also, talk to your online course developer. We can provide technical support and advice. Considering the range of disabilities and scenarios you may be considering, this can be very helpful and will probably save you a lot of time!

The guidelines below have been produced by Martyn Stahl from ASDAC. 

Creating accessible Word documents 1 - helpsheet from Martyn Stahl (ASDAC) [Acrobat (.pdf) - Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:12:00 GMT]

Creating accessible Word documents 2 - helpsheet from Martyn Stahl (ASDAC) [Acrobat (.pdf) - Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:19:00 GMT]

Creating an accessible PDF using Word [Acrobat (.pdf) - Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:59:00 GMT]

Creating accessible Power Points - helpsheet from Martyn Stahl (ASDAC) [Acrobat (.pdf) - Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:20:00 GMT]

 

Examples

Both the Old L&T bits and the Old L&T bits sections contains links to resources that provide many examples. However, this section shows a few examples created by staff at the University of Portsmouth.

 

Example 1

This example shows how online activities can be interactive and interesting, while also being accessible.  This example is intended to be included in a Victory unit.

Click here to open example 1

The accompanying report (below) discusses the background and process behind the design, including its limitations. (Please ignore the techie bits if they are not relevant to you!).  If you have any questions, contact emily.bennett@port.ac.uk

Report that accompanies the accessible online activity example [Acrobat (.pdf) - Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:58:00 GMT]

 

 

Example 2


This example was created by Judith Martin from Foundation Direct. It shows how accessible Word and Power Point documents can be created.  The topic of this example is how to give presentations.

Click here to open example 2 (this will download a Word document)


The accompanying report (below) explains the accessibility features of the example and how it was created. 

Explanation of the accessibility features [Acrobat (.pdf) - Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:48:00 GMT]

 

References

 

BBC website about accessibility

British Standards Institution: Web accessibility. Code of practice (BS 8878:2010)

DART case studies (2011). DART – Disabilities: Academic Resource Tool.

Delivering inclusive websites - Government advice

Disabled Student Diaries (2003). BBC Radio 4 - Disabled Student Diaries. 

Disability Discrimination Act (2006) Disability Discrimination Act -  Making You Teaching Inclusive. Open University website.

Equality Act 2010

Equality Act 2010 - explained

Geography Discipline Network (2004) Case studies – Inclusive Curriculum Project. 

Goode, J. (2007). ‘Managing disability: early experiences of university students with disabilities’.  Disability and Society, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 35-48.

Kaplan, D. (2011). From Where I Sit – Accessible Technology Initiative. 

Learning and Your Rights (2009) Learning and Your Rights DirectGov website.

Lexdis (2011). Ideas for e-learning. Available from  http://www.lexdis.org.uk/application (Accessed 13 October 2009).

RNIB - UK Law for websites 

Seale, J. (2006). E-Learning and Disability in Higher Education – Accessibility Research and Practice. Oxford, UK, Routledge.

Seale, J., Draffan, E. and Wald, M. (2008). LEXDIS Project Report – JISC funded project. 

Student Experiences (2011). Student Experiences - Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities. 

Techdis (2011). Techdis – accessibility in e-learning – JISC funded.

Techdis article on the Equality Act 2010

University of Portsmouth's Single Equality Scheme and Action Plan - November 2010

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (2011). W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.

WebAim (2011). Web accessibility in mind.

Website accessibility: A legal requirement and good commercial sense