Chapter 6: Proactive Solutions for Accessibility in Higher Education: Meeting Governmental Policy and Legal Demands Through Universal Design

In the wake of legal decisions against several large universities for noncompliance with U.S. Legislation Sections 504 (U.S. Congress, 1973a) and 508 (U.S. Congress, 1973b), as well recent U.S. Department of Education directives on the issue (2010, 2011), higher education institutions are waking up to the fact that accessibility of online classes, websites and technology resources is a mandate, not an option. Arizona State University (National Federation of the Blind, 2009), New York University and Northwestern University (National Federation of the Blind, 2011) were among those sued from 2009-2011 for not complying with federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (2010) mandates. Rather than punitive financial fines, thus far institutions must instead invest extensive amounts of time and resources in correcting all cited issues. This chapter explores the timely topic of the government’s role in regulating and promoting technological innovations and strategies for higher education’s better institutional management of innovation and technological change in a global context. The interdisciplinary literature related to building solutions for higher education technology accessibility offers an emergent approach to understanding institutional and individual faculty response.