Lower Columbia College is required by law to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the same services and content that are available to people without disabilities, including services and content made available online. But what does that mean for you? What do you need to know?
How do I make my technology accessible?
Lower Columbia College's Effectiveness and College Relations and Information Technology departments work together to provide you with an extensive knowledge base of resources to help make your content as widely accessible as possible. To learn more, consult the help pages listed below that are most relevant to the technologies you will be using.
Keeping Web Accessibility in Mind: Video
What is accessible technology?
Accessible technology is technology that can be accessed by all users. People who interact with technology are extremely diverse. They have a wide variety of characteristics, and we cannot assume that they’re all using a monitor for output or both keyboard and mouse for input. Consider these users:
- People with visual impairment
- Blindness, Color Blindness (many types), blurred vision (any less than perfect eyesight)
- People with auditory impairments
- Deafness, hearing loss, auditory processing disorders
- People with cognitive and learning disabilities
- ADHD, Dyslexia, PTSD, Down Syndrome
- People with motor disabilities
- Cerebral Palsy, MS, ALS, Parkinson’s, Arthritis
Designing technology to be accessible by everyone means understanding the barriers your users may face, and how they overcome these barriers so you know how best to help. For example, some users may use a screen reader to overcome blindness or dyslexia. Knowing that allows us to design for screen readers so those users can access our content.
The SBCTC's Library of Accessibility Resources canvas course is full of useful information and training materials for those seeking to understand accessibility better and implement accessible technology solutions. This course has a useful module to help you get started Understanding Accessibility.