Regulations, Policies, & Standards

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There are many reasons to make your course or web content accessible—not the least of which is that at Kennesaw State, we strive to embody a culture of inclusion by removing barriers and working to ensure full access to all.  Taking care of all of our students by ensuring that all students are able to access our courses is the right thing to do and consistent with our values as an institution.

Accessibility also benefits us as a University.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2018-19, 14% of K-12 public school students received services for some type of disability, and in 2015-16, roughly 20% of college undergraduates reported some form of disability. In other words, a significant portion of our university’s student body will have some form of sensory, motor, or learning disability. When we don’t focus on accessibility, we risk leaving a large portion of our student body behind. Since we want all of our students to have every opportunity to be successful, regardless of ability, making our course content accessible to students of differing abilities is crucial in ensuring our success as a university. 

However, besides being the right thing to do and good for us as an institution of higher education, accessibility for our students is also the law! On the following pages, we’ll introduce you to the sources of regulations, policies, and standards we use to inform you about accessibility and provide concrete practices to follow.  

Read an important Letter from the DOJ and DOE
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ADA

This important piece of legislation from 1990 prohibits discrimination based on disability. Our article will break it down for you.

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Sections 504 & 508

As a federally-funded institution, these sections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are extremely important to our work and establish our responsibility to students with disabilities.

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USG & KSU Policies

Learn more about how the USG and KSU interpret the law into educational practice.

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W3C

W3C is an international community working to develop standards for online accessibility, and being familiar with W3C's work is essential.

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WCAG

Developed by W3C, WCAG provides the nuts and bolts of web accessibility and is the basis for USG and KSU policies.

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WebAIM

This non-profit organization is devoted to helping you create accessible content. We’ll introduce you to this important resource here.

 

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