"11% of undergraduate students in the U.S. have a disability. 70% of all major universities in the U.S. were found to have poor web accessibility."
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
“An estimated 6.7 million students in the United States — 13% of all public school students — receive special education services. Students with vision, hearing, motor, and cognitive disabilities may all experience unique challenges when using a computer and accessing the internet.”
Source: Bureau of Internet Accessibility
“Schools have faced an increasing number of lawsuits related to website accessibility over the last three years…and complaints related to website accessibility were up 200% (over last year) and show no signs of slowing down.”
Source: eChalk
From Fordham to Florida State. MIT to Miami University. Penn State to Princeton – the list goes on and on for the countless colleges and universities who have struggled to achieve website accessibility for their students, faculty, staff, and parents. And a number of K-12 schools and school districts are failing to make the grade as well.
This unfortunate fact has resulted in a number of complaints, lawsuits, costly settlements, and legal fees for those who have failed to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level A/AA.
Note: The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in accordance with the Department of Justice (DOJ) has adopted WCAG 2.1 as the standards that higher education institutions need to comply with.
And with today’s challenging global environment and countless numbers of students with disabilities learning online from home or otherwise, now more than ever website accessibility is no longer a “nice to have” accommodation, but rather a need-to-have imperative by law. Period. And the OCR is not fooling around.
In fact, according to Inside Higher Ed columnist, Lindsay McKenzie, “Hundreds of colleges and universities across the country are currently under investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for failing to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities.” Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen to you.
If you need to ensure greater website accessibility and compliance for persons with disabilities, don’t go it alone. The Bureau of Internet Accessibility has been helping both higher educational institutions and K-12 schools alike to achieve compliance for more than 20 years.
Get in touch with us today to get started on your journey to website accessibility and compliance success. We offer both FREE consultation services and a FREE website accessibility scan to see where your biggest online pain points currently exist. Let’s get started.
