Access to Print Materials
DBTAC – Northeast ADA Center
1.800.949.4232
Sharon Trerise
© Disability Business Technical Assistance Center—Northeast
Employment and Disability Institute
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www.edi.cornell.edu
Topics
• Access to print materials through alternate
formats: who benefits?
• Textbooks
– Legal basis for providing alt formats
– Process for providing alt formats
– Challenges
• Other course materials
• College publications
• On the horizon
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WHO BENEFITS WHEN
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
ARE PROVIDED IN
ALTERNATE FORMATS?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CjQoc5vu28&feature=channel
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Who benefits?
• People who are blind
• People with low vision
• People with physical disabilities which limit their
ability to hold a book or turn pages
• People with reading-related learning disabilities
• English language learners
• Others (people listening while driving/ riding /
exercising…)
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How do we provide access?
Alternate Formats
• Braille & tactile graphics
• Large print
• Electronic text (e-text)
– MS Word, PDF, HTML, DAISY
• Audio files
– MP3, WAV, etc.
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Providing Alternate Formats
• Publishers
• Membership-based sources
– AccessText, Bookshare, Learning Ally (RFB&D)
• Public domain
• Contract with supplier
• Scan & convert in-house
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Challenges
• Graphics
– Graphics must have text descriptions to be useful for
audio translation
– Tactile graphics
• Time consuming & expensive to produce
– Large print / magnification
• May create distortion of graphic / contrast problems
– Audio files
• Missing graphics
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Challenges
• Complex page layouts may affect read
order (PDF)
• STEM content: scientific & math symbols
must be converted to format for voicing –
one at a time
– Resource: http://www.access2science.com/
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Challenges
• Other course materials
– Course packs
– Handouts
– Lab materials
– Library reserves
– Exams & quizzes
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Challenges
• Conversion challenges
– Expense of hardware & software
– Technical expertise needed
– TIME needed
– Liability for accuracy of converted materials
(exams & quizzes)
• CA model offers many benefits
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On the Bright Side
• Publishers are starting to help
– AccessText.org / PublisherLookup.com
– Pearson’s Course Compass
• Proliferation of E-books (although most
are not yet accessible)
• Choices of Assistive Technology for
converting & reading alternate formats
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Other College Publications
• Recruiting materials, Student handbook,
Course catalog, Health Services
brochures, etc.
• What is available on the web?
– Is it in an accessible format?
• Accessible Word, PDF
• Resources: CSU Professional Development for Accessible
Technology; teachingcommons.cdl.edu/access
• Library materials
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LEGISLATIVE BASIS FOR
PROVIDING ALTERNATE FORMATS
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Federal: OCR Case History
• 1996 Brooklyn College
– http://people.rit.edu/easi/law/brooklyn.htm
• 1996: CA Community Colleges
– http://www.icdri.org/legal/ocrsurltr.htm
• More: http://people.rit.edu/easi/law.htm
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State: NYS Chapter 219
• Chapter 219 of Laws of 2003
– http://www.tc3.edu/bcl/altformhandbook/219fi
eldmemo.asp
• 2011 Extension
– http://m.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S7748A2009
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Campus Policies
• Examples:
– George Brown College
• Captioned_Media_and_E_Text_Policy%5b1%5d.pdf
– CA Community Colleges
• http://www.htctu.net/divisions/altmedia/altmediadocs/Nussba
um_ltr.htm
– CA State University
• http://www.calstate.edu/accessibility/instructionalmaterials/in
dex.shtml
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Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008
• July 1, 2010, institutions will be required to disclose in
their course schedules, ISBN of required and
recommended textbook and supplemental materials and
retail price information.
• Publishers are required to provide faculty with
information on price, copyright dates of the three
previous editions, any substantial revisions between a
new edition and prior iterations, whether the textbook is
available in any other format and at what price and to
supply textbooks in bundled and unbundled formats.
Source: Amer. Council on Education, ACE Analysis of Higher Education Act
Reauthorization, www.acenet.edu/e-newsletters/p2p/ACE_HEA_analysis_818.pdf
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ON THE HORIZON
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Google Books
Google's stated mission is "to organize the world's
information and make it universally accessible and
useful." As part of that goal, it struck a deal in 2004 with
several major libraries to digitally copy the books in their
collections. The company now has an archive of more
than 12 million publications.
However: “Judge rejects Google's attempt to create a
universal library”
Source: CNNMoney, article by Laurie Segall, March 22, 2011
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/22/technology/google_books_lawsuit/
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On the Horizon
• Proliferation of e-reader devices with more
features
• Open educational resources model
(including textbooks)
• Publishing trend toward electronic media
– Wiley (Jossey-Bass) position
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DOJ / OCR Letter to Colleges
•
•
•
June 29, 2010, the Office of Civil Rights, United States Department of Education,
sent a joint letter to all United States college and university presidents.HL104
Requiring use of an emerging technology in a classroom environment when the
technology is inaccessible to an entire population of individuals with disabilities—
individuals with visual disabilities— is discrimination prohibited by the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(Section 504) unless those individuals are provided accommodations or modifications
that permit them to receive all the educational benefits provided by the technology in
an equally effective and equally integrated manner (Office of Civil Rights, US
Department of Education,(2010) Joint Letter, Washington, DC).
It is not unrealistic to assume that the mandate to provide equitable access to digital
learning materials and activities, even though focused on mobile e-book reading
devices in this instance, also extends to courseware, learning management systems,
instructional software programs—in short, any and all digital curriculum resources
required for use in publicly-funded educational institutions.
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Disability and Business Technical
Assistance Center – Northeast ADA
Center
ILR - Employment and Disability Institute
Cornell University
201L Dolgen Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
800.949.4232 in NY, NJ, PR, VI
www.dbtacnortheast.org
dbtacnortheast@cornell.edu
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