Accessibility of Schools and Colleges of Education Home Pages for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) and Colleges of Education (COEs) use the World Wide Web (WWW) to disseminate and gather information. On-line barriers limit the accessibility of the WWW for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility of COE home pages. Two hundred and fifty Web sites were randomly selected for evaluation. A software program was used to quantify the number of accessibility errors at each site. The results indicated that most (79%) colleges of education home pages had accessibility problems, and the majority of these problems (67%) of the errors were severe problems that should be given a high priority for correcting. The good news is that the majority (74%) of the errors can easily be corrected. The work reflects a need for COEs to examine the accessibility of their home pages. Direction for improving accessibility is provided. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides the same civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities that apply as a result of race, gender, national origin, and religion (Button & Wobschali, 1994). Title III of the ADA directs that public facilities make reasonable modifications to control discrimination and support accessibility in policies, practices, and procedures (Council for Exceptional Children, 1994). As a result of this landmark legislation, accessibility alterations like providing ramps to elevated areas and providing accessible signage through height adjustments and raised lettering have become commonplace across the country. Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) have participated in efforts to make public and private facilities, and work done in them, more accessible. For example, Osfield (1993) provided a report regarding access by individuals with disabilities to the programs, services, and activities provided to students, staff, faculty, and the community-at-large. Literature guiding libraries in efforts to offer services that comply with the ADA was also examined. In particular, articles by Mendle (1995) and Chalfen and Farb (1996) describe adaptive computing technology guidelines that were applied in the design of the online information system at the University of California Los Angeles. The World Wide Web (WWW) is an important information resource for COEs. Accessibility across platforms and geographic distance makes the WWW an ideal universal medium for collecting and disseminating information. Wang (1997) discussed use of the Internet for increased self advocacy by individuals with physical impairments and disabilities. Approximately 8% of all WWW users have a disability (Capozzi~ 1998). While technical developments have enhanced and provided new exciting opportunities for the WWW, they have, at the same time, complicated and limited the accessibility of the content and resources for individuals with disabilities. Physical barriers are obvious accessibility concerns confronting students with disabilities. Web page developers need to be just as aware that on-line barriers can create significant accessibility problems for some users. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that all organizations make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Using the WWW as a resource for distributing information is no exception. It is important that COE Web page developers use and follow standards that allow accessibility to all WWW risers. A variety of disabilities can reduce accessibility to the WWW. Visual, hearing, movement, cognitive, speech, and other impairments can limit availability of information. Assisted technologies or accessibility aids, such as Braille output systems, modification of keyboards, screen enlargement utilities, voice output utilities, and other technologies allow students with disabilities to access information on the WWW. However, because of the complexity of many Internet resources, some information cannot be accessed with these aids. …

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