Ensuring Digital Accessibility for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education through Digital Accessibility Online Tools and Digital Accessibility Training

Author: Alecia Samuels
Associate Professor, Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication , University of Pretoria

When teaching and learning moved almost exclusively online during the COVID-19 pandemic, it brought into sharper focus for universities, the accessibility of their digital content especially for students with disabilities. Digital accessibility is the process of making digital products and content (websites, mobile apps, documents and other digital media and technologies) accessible for everyone regardless of any barriers they might have. While becoming increasingly relevant during the COVID 19 pandemic when universities were forced to move teaching and learning almost exclusively online, for many students with disabilities, difficulties in accessibility of the digital portions of their studies has predated the pandemic not just globally but in South Africa as well. If they are to be successful in their courses and conduct their own research, students with disabilities in higher education need learning materials and information to not just be available but also accessible in various formats that will allow them to be engaged in their learning.

Students with disabilities are also not a homogenous group and may face different digital accessibility challenges. A student who has a visual impairment, for example, will have very different accessibility requirements than a student with hearing, motor or learning impairments.  A person with low vision may not be able to see the text, graphics, menus, navigational tools, or video content. Physical disabilities may interfere with a person’s ability to use input and navigational methods, such as a standard keyboard or mouse on a computer or touchscreens on mobile devices and tablets. An individual with a hearing impairment may not benefit from audio-only output often encountered, for example, on narrated video content or in online meeting rooms.  Therefore, for digital products and technologies to be accessible, alternative formats and accommodations that specifically consider disability specific needs are required. Some of the most common digital accessibility issues identified by people with disabilities include a lack of captioning on videos, absent alternative text image descriptions, cluttered page layouts, small font sizes, low colour contrast as well as small targets that demand motor precision.

Legislation and policy frameworks for addressing digital accessibility in the higher education sector in South Africa are embedded indirectly in existing documents such as section 9 of the South African Constitution[1], which provides that ‘no person may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone’ on grounds that cover a long list of criteria including disability status. The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act[2] also states that the elimination of any obstacles preventing the differently abled from enjoying any ‘equal opportunities’ is paramount, and furthermore prohibits ‘failing to take steps to reasonably accommodate the needs of such persons.  In the education sector specifically, the South African Schools Act (1996), the Higher Education Act (1997), the Further Education and Training Act (1998), and the Adult Basic Education and Training Act (2000) all require educational institutions to ensure that students with disabilities can access education. The National Plan for Higher Education (2000) furthermore requires universities to develop institutional plans that would improve access for marginalised groups including students with disabilities.

It is estimated that 7.5% of people in South Africa have a disability[3]. However, this would appear to be a significant underestimation since the World Health Organisation and World Bank (2011)[4] estimate the prevalence of disability to be as high as 15 percent in the world especially in low- and middle-income countries. Students with disabilities will therefore continue to make up a significant proportion of the higher education community as their rights to access institutions of higher education are realized.  But despite these legislative rights and imperatives, the ways in which access and accessibility for students with disabilities is managed across higher education institutions in South Africa is still highly individualised with each institution adopting their own unique plans and methods. Legislation, policies and plans also do not necessarily translate at the coalface to facilitate accessible teaching and learning. Learning Management Systems (LMS), for example, and content created by instructors such as Word documents, Portable Document Formats (PDFs), presentations, and recorded videos are not necessarily accessible for a wide range of users for some of the reasons highlighted previously.

Accessible digital design is also not just an issue for students with disabilities. Providing captioning on videos, which ensures that audio content is accessible via text, provides multiple means for presenting content to wide variety of learners. This ensures that content is accessible to students with hearing impairments, but also assists learners for whom English may be a second language, as well as students working on mobile devices, or in distracting environments. Despite the universal benefits of digital accessibility for all online learners, some course developers and instructors remain unaware of strategies for improving digital accessibility. Closed captioning of audio-visual materials which ensures that audio content is accessible via text for students with hearing impairments, for example, has also shown to benefit 2^nd language English learners who make up another significant proportion of the university student community in South Africa[5]. Closed captioning has been shown to improve reading ability, vocabulary and comprehension[6].

In acknowledging the diversity of their student body and the unique needs of individual students, the University of Pretoria embarked on a unique project in the country and on the continent to promote inclusivity in teaching and learning at the institution by ensuring that courses provided online, and digital content are more accessible to all students.  Advances in technology make it possible to proactively create accessible instructional materials and to check compliance with universal accessibility standards. Since 2021, the University of Pretoria has been the first higher education institution in Africa to integrate Blackboard’s Ally software into its online learning management system[7].  It provides students with the ability to download alternate accessible formats of the original content such as Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoint and HTML files uploaded by instructors.  Alternate formats include Audio, Electronic Braille, ePub, Semantic HTML, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) PDF, Tagged PDF, BeeLine reader and Translated version alternate formats. Each of these will be briefly described.

Audio alternatives give students the option to download a compressed MP3 file of any text-based document. It then reads the text of the original content aloud and provides a description of any images provided.  These adaptations can benefit individuals with visual impairments as well as those who prefer to listen than read such as students with dyslexia or auditory learners.

Electronic Braille is used mainly by students with visual impairments who use a Refreshable Braille Display (RBD), which is like a monitor-less computer. Electronic Braille alternate formats create Braille Ready Format files or BRFs that can be read by a RBD or other Braille reading devices or software.

The ePub alternative format creates a digital publishing file that makes for easier reading on an eBook reader on an iPad or e-readers. It may be a useful format for those who may want to commute and read, take notes, highlight content, adjust text and background and even use text-to-speech capabilities of readers.

Semantic HTML or semantic markup is HTML that introduces tags and elements such as blockquote, paragraph and headings to give meaning to a web page. For students with visual impairments who use screen readers, it provides them with a good structure of the layout of content on a web page.

Similarly a Tagged PDF alternative uses tags and elements—such as blockquote, paragraph, and headings—to add meaning to a PDF page giving screen reader users good structure of the layout of content on a page.

OCR PDF alternatives are created from original content that may be a PDF of an image, for example, scanned documents. Many students who use screen readers find scanned documents of text totally inaccessible. The OCR technology is therefore able to analyse the content and converts the image into searchable text.

The BeeLine Reader alternative format uses subtle colour gradients instead of  plain black text to help pull the readers eye through readings. For those reading on screens, this makes reading easier and faster, which can increase reading speed and focus. It  benefits people with dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, low vision, or anyone who may have difficulty with visual tracking or focus.

The Translated alternative format has the ability to provide a machine-translated version of the original PDF, Word, PowerPoint or HTML document into a total of 50 different languages. For students who are 2^nd language learners, translated formats provide them with an option to understand content which they may have difficulty comprehending in the source language. As yet there are limited African languages options but these are intended to come online as soon as they are available.

The quality of the alternative formats is however dependent on the quality of the source material designed and developed by instructors. For this reason, the responsibility for accessibility is not just placed on the shoulders of students. Ally requires instructors to become aware of the accessibility of their course content. Instructors have the ability to run a course accessibility report which provides  them with an accessibility score for each course and a list of all accessibility issues identified in the course by digital content type and severity. Instructors can then determine which content may require more urgent fixing giving them a place to start before the content is first made available to students. Ally also gives some basic guides to instructors on how to fix the accessibility of their content.

However, since accessibility checkers like Ally are not infallible and there is as yet no accessibility option alternatives for certain types of content e.g.  captioned video, I have developed a digital accessibility self-study course for instructors at the University of Pretoria to create awareness among academic staff for the need to design accessible digital materials and give them the needed skills to make digital content more accessible from the very beginning.  The course, which is available on ClickUP, the university’s LMS, asks instructors to start with small changes that can create a significant impact by focusing on learning seven key digital accessibility skills. These include i) Creating accessible headings, ii) Hyperlinks, iii) Lists, iv) Colour and Contrast, v) Alternative text for images, vi) Video and Audio accessibility, and vii) Accessible Virtual Meetings. Instructors are provided with step by step guidance and can complete the course within their own time.

In June 2021, a group of accessibility champions at UP piloted the use of Ally in their online courses by running the course accessibility report, fixing their content, and giving students the ability to download alternate accessible formats. Preliminary feedback from staff and students was positive and the full roll out to the wider University community took place in the 2022 academic year. The emerging impact has revealed that the enhanced inclusivity brought about by Ally has been a welcome bonus as illustrated in the following quote of a student. “I use my cell phone a lot, so the HTML and ePub formats have been an absolute blessing. In addition to ease of reading it has also supported me to multitask and complete my readings without having to carry my laptop around with me.”[8]

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin said that ‘no one should have to ask for access – it should just be there’. Being a champion for digital accessibility is my attempt to address this issue of access in the university space. When we make content accessible for all, students with disabilities will not need to ask for special permission; they are included from the very beginning.

[1] Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.  (1996). https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf

[2] Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4. South African Government (2000). https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2000-004.pdf

[3] StatsSA (2011) . Census 2011: Profile of Person with Disability in South Africa.  http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-01-59/Report-03-01-592011.pdf

[4] WHO & World Bank (2011). World report on disability. World Health Organisation. https://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report.pdf

[5] Mutepe, M., Makananise, F. O., & Madima, S. E. (2021). Experiences of first-year students with using English second language for teaching and learning at a rural based university in a democratic South Africa. Gender and Behaviour, 19(2), 17795-17803.

[6] Perez, M. M., Van Den Noortgate, W., & Desmet, P. (2013). Captioned video for L2 listening and vocabulary learning: A meta-analysis. System, 41(3), 720-739.

[7] University of Pretoria first in Africa to adopt Blackboard Ally to support inclusive learning. https://www.up.ac.za/news/post_3011779-university-of-pretoria-first-in-africa-to-adopt-blackboard-ally-to-support-inclusive-learning

[8] Samuels, A. (2021). Improving digital accessibility in the online learning management system. 2021 Teaching and Learning Review. University of Pretoria. https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/86080/EI%20T%26L%20Review%202021%20WEB.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1

About the Author:

Alecia Samuels is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria and a research affiliate of CHILD, an interdisciplinary research group on childhood disabilities at Jönköping University in Sweden. She teaches and undertakes research in the field of early childhood intervention and severe communication disabilities with a specific focus on the participation of disabled and vulnerable children. She is the programme manager of the interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Early Childhood Intervention and also the developer of the UP ClickUP course on digital accessibility.