Office of Faculty Affairs

Accommodating Students with Disabilities

UNO Faculty Colleagues:
 
I appreciate that UNO faculty members work with my office to accommodate students with disabilities so that their classes may be as inclusive as possible. However, some of the best practices for providing equal access may not always be obvious.  While not exhaustive, I hope the information provided here presents insight on proven ways to provide significant impact with minimum effort.  You can significantly impact a student’s access just by reviewing this information and being aware of and incorporating accessibility/universal design best practices.
 
Ensure that your class website and digital materials are accessible.
Please read over the Dear Colleague Letter, issued jointly by the Department of Civil Rights and the Department of Education, which outlines the University’s requirements and provides links to training and tools.  As outlined in the letter, “Online accessibility for people with disabilities cannot be an afterthought. The Justice Department and Department of Education will use the ADA and Section 504 as tools to ensure that members of the disability community are able to fully participate in every education program.”
 
Be aware that some enterprise applications may have accessibility problems.
Even with UNO's best efforts to ensure accessibility of the products used for instruction, some students may encounter barriers using MyMathLab and other utilized educational platforms. To address this, I may be in contact with you to discuss access for specific students.  If we cannot address/remedy the barriers experienced by the student, you should allow use of an alternative method as an accommodation. In other words, you should not assign work where the only option to complete the work involves use of these tools. 
 
Online Courses
For asynchronous courses, if you have not already, create a transcript and caption your courses.  The Center for Teaching Innovation provides detail on how to do this.  For live courses using Zoom, be sure to always enable automated captioning and enable save captions for students for whom the captioning is a required accommodation.
Captions assist a variety of students (including, but not limited to, students for whom English is not their first language, those with hearing impairments, those with specific learning disabilities and our students who require note-taking assistance.) 
 
Consider the size as well as the contrast of text and background.
The American Foundation for the Blind has great resources to make web pages accessible to those who use access technology but will benefit users of other devices as well (for example, people with slower Internet connections and those using devices such as cell phones or tablets that have smaller screens.)
 
Consider preparing in-class materials that can be distributed in advance.
Providing your materials such as PowerPoint slides in advance can help students prepare for class participation. This will particularly assist students with disabilities such as vision impairments, hearing impairments and specific learning disabilities, but also those for whom English is a second language or even for shy students to make them feel more prepared to participate.
 
If an accommodation concerns you, let’s build a bridge instead of a wall as we address your concerns.  You are the expert on your course and on your subject matter while others are the experts on providing accommodations—none of us are in this alone.
 
Sincerely,
 
Amy A. King
Director, Student Accountability and Disability Services
Office of Disability Services

New Faculty - AY 2023-2024

Tenure & Promotion - AY 2023-2024