2.10 Applying accessibility guidelines
The extent to which the accessibility guidelines work is very subjective. if you do not require the additional tools or resourses then they would appear to be a good example of inclusionary practice. However if you are the individual that requires them there may be a different concusion. They feel they do not go far enough, or have a wide enough scope.
The use of accessibility guidelines is often useful for educators, assisting them in standardising accessibility. However, they are not always fully implemented and could be out of date. These guidelines mainly benefit users with disabilities, but that is not all. When used correctly, they can also assist older adults, those with temporary impairments, and the general population as a whole (catering for the various unique learning styles). Alongside these guidelines, it would be used to test the resources with a diverse group of participants.
The idea that if education is accessible that others benefit is true, particularly when considering there is a range of needs, some mild, some more severe, and some not always known/recognised by an individual.
I considered the BC
Campus guidelines. I can see the transcript guidelines are helpful, and have
made me reconsider the resources I use.
I am glad that guidelines give examples of personalising the adjustments
needed. With smaller groups (that I have) it is possible to adapt sessions for
the groups. I have been concerned about the accuracy of automated subtitles
(having tried to use them with my Dad who is completely deaf, causing a lot of
laughter and misunderstanding) but with an agreement between educator and
student on what is needed, and the pitfalls of the adjustment used then this
works.
It requires planning, allowing for students with a need for adjustment to communicate that need effectively with the educator. This has to be incorporated in the pre-course registration/materials as asking 'live' could be distressing to the individual.
In a tutor's ideal world we would be able to discuss needs prior to tuition. However, there is no requirement for individuals to declare any disability (nor should there be) and some would feel highly embarrassed to do so. If, however, we make our materials as inclusive as possible, we can hopefully cater for the needs of many, although I do acknowledge that we may not be able to cater for all just by making our materials as inclusive as possible, as some learners may have very specific and individual requirements.
I think universal design (including universal design for learning) is a great place to start. In my experience, when UDL principles are proactively applied, students enjoy leaning more and there are fewer requests for adjustments, if any. However, not all colleagues are open to the idea of UDL and I found it hard to get accessibility to be prioritised at work :(
Thank you for highlighting the importance of UDL. I had not read about this before and just got to know about it in this course. Your post prompts me to read more about it and get to know it better.
Terri Rees Post 10 in reply to 3
• 19 February 2025, 9:46 AM • Edited by the author on 19 February 2025, 9:46 AMEven though accessibility is a legal requirement Lina?
Unfortunately, yes! And the 'legal' bit is not even the most important 'why' (student experience is success is a more important reason, in my opinion). I've been delivering sessions to various teams in our school with little tangible change in practice :(
Greetings everyone.
I checked the YouTube Help pages to understand how subtitles and captions operate. They would work well for those who are aurally-challenged. They could read the written text. Adding sign-language could be useful here.
There are different kinds of guidelines because there are different kinds of learners with different kinds of abilities. It may not be possible to design a one-size-fits all approach.
The resources shared can be used to increase accessibility. In my professional set-up I could forward a suggestion to my chair to include audio instructions as well as accept audio submissions to ensure accessibility to the visually impaired.
I have not used any resources that increase accessibility and so I have none that I can recommend.
I feel that adhering to accessibility guidelines could eventually lead different learners getting education. It is a challenging and expensive (not only money but also time) task but our larger goal can be our focus. Even as we create these digital options for people with various challenges, we are consistently innovating. Finally, I must admit that even "normal" people would sometimes like to listen to their lessons, sometimes watch them or sometimes read them. So accessibility is not only for the challenged, but could ultimately benefit everyone by catering to different learning styles.
To what extent do you think accessibility guidelines work?
I agree with Rebecca in that they are only effective if they remain up to date and relevant. Also, the information needs to be accessible and meaningful to those designing and implementing learning materials.
Who do they work best for?
Students and educators, as the overarching aim for both is realising maximum potential through learning. Although I agree with Rebecca that it is not just a discrete set of students. Lina mentions UDL which is based on the principle of catering to the widest possible audience and so likely to benefit many.
What else might you need to go with them?
Examples of learners experiences are invaluable.
Why do you think there are so many different guidelines for the same components?
Regional differences in approaches / compliance as well as different perspectives on what is most effective.
How might you use the resources above?
As a starting point for asking the right questions.
Are there other resources that you have used and can recommend?
I have used this most often - https://abilitynet.org.uk/training?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA2cu9BhBhEiwAft6IxPEOemNA7Q2fKvhNKdWOdJuW7mRKTY4YYflHMzK8sPqx2ga3KcV1-hoCm7MQAvD_BwE
I agree Michelle. As someone with an audio processing disorder I find youtube's auto captions are terrible and yet people use them to tick an accessibility box without actually checking if they are correct.
Even here on this course in the section about accessibility is a video with auto captions and no transcript!
I have found the government accessibility guidelines for public sector bodies useful
YouTube's Help pages on captions and subtitles
What struck me as I read the help is that it is completely technically focused on file formats and different options, without having the end-result in view.
I like to use YouTube closed captions when I am in a noisy environment. Lynn, I agree that the automatic settings produce very unsatisfactory results. I wonder if the technical set-up could be improved by forcing the person adding the captions to specifically synch and check each line of text, and producing a measure of accuracy at the end - much like one can get a readability score for a paragraph from MS Word. This would enable the educator or learner to get an idea of the quality, to see if it needs to be fixed.
Reflecting on the questions, addressing accessibility is a conundrum. On the one hand there is the point made above by Terri that students do not have to declare a disability. Taken with the accessibility requirement of nothing-for-us-without-us implies that input from the students with disabilities who use the tools should always be obtained. Then if one takes the stance outlined by Rebecca above that many different learners will benefit form the enhanced accessibility (I am sure that is always the case), do we risk missing addressing the needs of learners with disabilities and instead covering ourselves by generally asking a class if they find the tools helpful? To which the answer will always be: "Yes".
One of the UDL guidelines is to write alternative text which describes the figures for visually impaired learners. One of the courses that I teach has lots of graphs in the material. I spent a considerable amount of time writing accurate descriptions for these graphs. To my dismay, I could not use my detailed descriptions because I was limited to 144 characters for the alternative text that appears when you hover over the figure! The restricted descriptions ended up being little more than figure titles.
I feel that I lot more could be done, if software was more flexible, designed with the end purpose in mind, rather that what is convenient from a computer programming point of view.
I think accessibility guidelines are essential but might not always work for everyone. They might work best for people who have the responsibility for amending content that already exists, but are intended to benefit persons with disabilities and older adults who experience change e.g. in their vision and hearing.
Accessibility guidelines might need training to go with them and might benefit from user testing and regular re-drafting/audits to ensure that they remain accurate and appropriate. This is especially important to account for regional differences, legal changes and technological advances (the latter of which can move really quickly).
The A.Checker Media Accessibility Guide is another example of guidelines.
From looking at the YouTube pages it is (as others have said) very much focused on the technical aspect - the how, rather than the why. There's also the challenge of different devices possibly needing different instructions to meet the requirements (see their instructions on making accessible resources for their mobile app for both iOS and Android)
There's also the challenge of making content that's suitable for individuals with non-sensory impairments such as ADHD.
The guidelines seem useful starting points for designing resources but cannot take into account the variety of learners these resources will encounter. It's also essential that you give a human the opportunity to check these prior to being released into the wild!
Accessibility guidelines may work well if online course developers ensure the courses are user friendly and accessible by a broad range of people, including those with disabilities. To make them effective, integration must be made early in the design process, making content accessible from the start rather than as an afterthought.
- Accessibility guidelines do work but it is hard to get buy in at a large organisation so there needs to be a real commitment. Staff need to be trained and regularly updated, and reflecting their different roles, and I know I would find short idiot guides/reminders useful.
- They would best for everyone, as nobody wants to exclude learners, but as we have discussed, sometimes there is a conflict between student needs but limited resources to create different versions.
- There are so many different guidelines as there are so many learners, and we all have our own needs.
- I've used many of the resources, but I did find the signed avatars interesting - Scottish students are protected by the law, but the rest of the UK lacks funding for BSL students (with some being BSL only, which many people are not aware of so written documents are of no help to them)
The accessibility guidelines
Accessibility guidelines can improve the user experience for everyone, including people with disabilities and older users. However, no guidelines can address the needs of every person with a disability. This explains the reason for multiple accessibility guidelines which is largely due to the diverse needs of people with disabilities, varying technological landscapes across different regions, and the need to adapt guidelines to specific contexts like government regulations, industry standards, and evolving digital environments.