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Digital Accessibility
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Digital Accessibility
Detroit Mercy is dedicated to making its digital content and technologies accessible to all by creating an inclusive experience that respects and supports the diverse needs and ways individuals interact with our systems, websites, content and courses. Whether a user has limited vision, difficulty using a mouse or touch surface, or other accessibility needs, the University is committed to ensuring everyone can access the same information, participate in the same interactions and benefit from the same services.
What is digital accessibility?
Digital content and technologies (DC&T) accessibility means that all content, systems and websites should be usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Assistive technologies and practices exist to help people with disabilities use DC&T. Examples include text-to-speech screen readers, screen magnifiers, voice control, speech recognition, video transcripts and captions, etc.
How to ensure DC&T is accessible
- DC&T policy - coming soon.
- Next Training: Colleague Development Day - Aug. 22
Websites
Website accessibility is essential because much of Detroit Mercy’s activity takes place online. To effectively serve our diverse community of students, faculty, staff and other website visitors, this digital content must be accessible to everyone.
Assistive technologies and practices exist to help people with disabilities use the Web.A poorly-designed, non-accessible website can defeat these assistive technologies, and thereby discriminate against people with disabilities. Accessibility not only makes sites work better for people with disabilities, but usually makes sites work better for all users.
As a recipient of federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education, University of Detroit Mercy is subject to federal legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Therefore, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø follows a policy of website accessibility.
Instruction
Blackboard How-To Guide - coming soon
Electronic Documents
Electronic documents, such as PDF and MS Word documents, can be created to easily work with assistive technologies.
Staff must ensure any distributed material are accessible to those viewing it.
Instructors must ensure course materials (including course documents) are accessible to all learners.
If making Word or PDF documents accessible is too difficult or time-consuming, it may be necessary to outsource the task to a company that specializes in document accessibility.
Social Media
Content shared on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook should also be accessible to a broad audience, but ensuring accessibility depends on the platform and how the content is uploaded.
Emails and Newsletters
Emails are another form of electronic communication that must meet accessibility standards and be compatible with assistive technologies, because the needs of recipients are often unknown.
Video and Audio
Because video and audio content rely on the senses of sight and hearing, there are important accessibility guidelines that must be followed to ensure everyone can access them.
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."
– Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web