Legal Issues

Many videos on campuses are captioned only as an accommodation for a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, even though they benefit many others, including English language learners, those with reading-related disabilities, and individuals who simply want to see the spelling of words spoken in the presentation. The University of Washington’s UW-IT Free Captioning Project was developed as an effort to promote proactive captioning of videos on campus.

In order for information technology (IT) to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities, it must afford these individuals the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in interactions, and obtain services as people without disabilities. The U.S.

Many key issues regarding IT accessibility have surfaced in legal resolutions and settlements involving higher education institutions and technology accessibility including: