Accessibility at EWU
Accessibility is an important component of all we do at Eastern, and we are all responsible for ensuring that the digital content we create and share (documents, videos, web sites, courses, and more!) provides the same experience to all!
What is Digital Accessibility & Why is it Important?
An accessible document is one that can be perceived, understood, navigated, and interacted with by all. Designing with digital accessibility in mind is an inclusive practice that ensures individuals, regardless of their disabilities, have equal access to information and functionality.
Title II
On April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice published a new rule that revised the regulation implementing title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This revision included specific requirements and technical specifications for digital accessibility.
What this means
It means that as of April 24, 2026, all digital media created and shared by EWU must be digitally accessible.
It also means that EWU must show a good faith effort to remediate all digital content created and shared by EWU created before this date.
Recommendations on the path forward
While all new materials must be made accessible after the deadline, here are a few suggestions to get you started in remediating existing materials:
- Review all files and remove anything that is outdated or unused.
- You can create archive folders in cloud storage to store these documents, but they must not be shared with anyone!
- If an archived document needs to be shared again, you must remediate any/all accessibility issues in that document before sharing it again!
- Remediate Scanned PDFs
- The easiest [and best] solution is to, whenever possible, replace scanned documents with more accessible materials.
- If the document is provided by a third party (e.g., textbook publisher, journal, etc), request the third party provide an accessible document.
- Work with your librarian to try and find alternative materials.
- If replacing the document isn’t possible, you will need to request an Adobe Acrobat Pro license and remediate the document.
- This can be a time-consuming process!
- The easiest [and best] solution is to, whenever possible, replace scanned documents with more accessible materials.
- Add alt-text to all images!
- Verify that headings, which provide a coherent reading structure for screen readers and the people who use them, are used properly.
