Higher Education Websites Are Discriminating Against Students With Disabilities

Our report found that 9 out of 10 organizations are vulnerable to litigation and discriminating against students with disabilities.

We aimed to raise awareness with this report, in that websites, like buildings, are subject to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and need to similarly accommodate. We are pleased to see our report is being featured in recent media pieces, highlighting the risks and changes that need to take place.

Adam R. Bialek, Attorney and co-chair of Wilson Elser’s Intellectual Property & Technology, Arm, recently highlighted the issue across the sector and the market as a whole in his piece written in the National Law Review. (opens in a new window)

As Bialek highlights, many institutions believe they are inclusive and accommodating, however, these organizations are often reliant on suppliers such as web agencies and other vendors telling them they are compliant without proof.

Bialek also addresses that one of the key issues with non-compliance stems from the guidelines, The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These are highly technical guidelines that might not be readily understood by risk managers or educators. This issue is one we’re trying to address. AAAtraq encourages all organizations to understand their ADA risk position. If you would like to do this, simply enter your web address at AAAtraq.com (opens in a new window), we don’t ask you to register or promise a report by email – the results are immediately available and understandable. Green = good - red = bad). We also provide you with your inclusion score – a clear numerical way of tracking risk over time

We’ve also produced a video overview of the results of our Higher Education ADA Risk Audit.