1.
A Step Toward Creating ADA Compliant Course
Sites:
Instructional Design tips for the visually impaired
and hard of hearing student in your online course.
Presented by: Dana Gullo

2.
One fifth (20%) of the population has some kind of
disability.
Not all of these people have disabilities that make it
difficult for them to access the internet, but it is still a
significant portion of the population.
Businesses would be unwise to purposely exclude 20,
10, or even 5 percent of their potential customers
from their web sites. For schools, universities, and
government entities it would not only be unwise, but
in many cases, it would also violate the law.

3.
Are our courses Accessible?
Section 508:
An amendment to the
United States Workforce
Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
is a federal law mandating
that all electronic and
information technology
developed, procured,
maintained, or used by the
federal government be
accessible to people with
disabilities.
ADA Compliance:
The Department of Justice
(DOJ) published the
Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) Standards for
Accessible Design in
September 2010. These
standards state that all
electronic and information
technology must be
accessible to people with
disabilities.

4.
The major categories of disability types are:
Visual
Hearing
Motor
Cognitive

5.
From their point of view…

6.
Check List for your courses
Type Formatting
Word, Power Point, and PDF documents
Links
Images
Audio and Video

7.
Type Formatting
and Document Organization
• Use sans-serif fonts designed for legibility on the computer screen (e.g., Arial, Verdana,
Helvetica).
• Use bold or italic text to display emphasis.
• Don’t underline words since on a web page this indicates hyperlinks.
• Avoid using colored text (such as red) for emphasis since screen readers will not indicate it is
there.
• Avoid including moving or blinking text.
• Keep the number of fonts used in a document to a minimum.

8.
Type Formatting
Word Documents

9.
Type Formatting
PDF Documents

10.
Type Formatting
PowerPoint Presentations

11.
Checking Accessibility
PowerPoint Presentations

12.
Links
Links are more useful when they make sense
out of context.
Avoid non-informative link phrases such as:
•click here
•here
•more
•read more
•link to [some link destination]
•info

13.
Images

14.
Consider the Color Blind
Color Blind
Simulator
Normal Color Red-Blind/Protanopia

15.
Audio and Video
Add Closed
Captioning or a
Transcript for the
video.

16.
Additional Resources
ADA Standards for Accessible Design
University of Central Florida Accessible Content
Formatting Guidelines
Web AIM
Northeastern University Instructor Resource Center:
Best Practices for Online Course Accessibility
National Center on Universal Design for Learning:
Postsecondary Education and UDL