The Chronicle interviewed Judith Risch, the Grand River Solutions expert on digital accessibility who brings over twenty years of invaluable experience from her tenure at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education, where she co-led the National Digital Accessibility Team.
According to Risch, there has been a lack of focus on persons with disabilities in the digital space for many years, leaving a chasm in access. Risch points out that doing nothing is not an option. Under the current set of regulations, thousands of institutions have faced Office for Civil Rights (OCR) complaints resulting in resolution agreements. A unique challenge for schools is that digital accessibility is a civil rights issue and the solution to addressing access requires a collaboration across multiple departments from the equity offices to IT to any department that has a digital presence, including online education.
To make the process less painful, reduce cost, and meet the needs of their evolving populations, institutional leadership may want to commit now to the process of assessing their digital strategy then ascertaining the proper approach and infrastructure needed to successfully comply. Grand River Solutions can help you determine what solutions are right for your organization by finding the most effective way possible while keeping financial and systemic impacts down.
Check out our Digital Accessibility Page and read Risch’s Digital Regulations Summary.
Whether you’ve just begun addressing the accessibility of your digital presence or feel that you have made significant progress, an easy one-hour consultation can tell you if you are meeting the current ADA/504 requirements and state laws.