It's the law (opens in new window) .
Multiple laws as well as SMC Board Policy and Administrative Regulations require accessible
technology.
ADA Title II is the primary federal law that ensures individuals with disabilities have equal access to the programs, services, and activities of public entities, including public colleges and universities. Enacted as part of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title II prohibits disability-based discrimination and requires institutions to provide equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from all offerings, whether delivered in person or through digital platforms. Recent updates to Title II regulations also establish specific technical requirements for digital accessibility, aligning with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
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Scope: Title II applies broadly to all college operations, including academic programs, student services, websites, mobile applications, instructional materials, events, communications, and physical facilities. Digital content and services are expected to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as of April 26, 2027, to ensure accessibility.
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Responsibility: Compliance with ADA Title II is a campus-wide responsibility, requiring coordination across departments to ensure accessibility is consistently implemented and maintained.
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Proactive Approach: Institutions are expected to proactively design programs, services, and digital content with accessibility in mind and in alignment with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. Failure to do so may result in complaints or investigations by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which can lead to extensive institutional review, corrective actions, and significant time and resource commitments.
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Accommodations: When full accessibility is not readily achievable, institutions must provide reasonable modifications and effective accommodations. These are determined through an interactive process involving the individual with a disability and relevant campus offices, ensuring equal access and participation.
Section 508 deserves a special mention because it is the law most associated with accessible technology. Section 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998 (and soon to be amended again) requires the Federal government and those receiving federal funds (e.g. SMC) to develop, procure, use, and maintain accessible electronic and information technology.
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Scope: There are section 508 design standards for web pages, software, multimedia, computers, telecommunications products, and self-contained, closed products (e.g., kiosks, printers, copy machines).
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Responsibility: Implementation of Section 508 is a campus-wide responsibility.
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Proactive Approach: We are required to create, adopt and purchase accessible technology to the greatest extent possible. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) gets very concerned about problems created by not considering accessibility in the first place (e.g. uncaptioned multimedia, student portals not accessible to blind students using screen reading software). OCR complaints may result in an extensive investigation of all the college's digital and physical accessibility in addition to the initial complaint. Such investigations are extremely time-consuming and expensive.
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Accommodations: Sometimes accessibility is not achievable (e.g., access to molecular modeling software with screen reading software used by people who are blind). In this case, we are expected to develop proactive back up plans with potential accommodations in mind. Ultimately, accommodations for specific individuals are developed in an interactive process involving the individual with a disability, Disabled Student Services and other members of our campus community, as appropriate.
- Laws Suits and OCR Complaints: Over the last few years, many colleges and universities have been the recipients of lawsuits and/or Office of Civil Right complaints as the result of inaccessible technology. The most common sources of inaccessible instructional technology are digital resources from publishers.
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Additional Resources on Accessibility and the Law
Legal Obligations for Accessibility
Resolution Agreements and Lawsuits from the University of Washington
California Government Code 11135 (opens in new window) (d2)
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California state law SB105 (opens in new window) , signed into law in September of 2002, noted that anyone receiving state funds must also comply with Section 508. These 508 requirements have been incorporated into Government Code section 11135, which is the basic state nondiscrimination statute enforced by the Chancellor's Office. SB 105 removes any grey area that may have existed in the interpretation of Section 508 with respect to its jurisdiction over the California systems of higher education.
Title 5 of the California Education Code
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55205. Definitions and Application. (adopted July 2002 - replaces 55370)
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Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. All distance education is subject to the general requirements of this chapter as well as the specific requirements of this article. In addition, instruction provided as distance education is subject to the requirements that may be imposed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12100 et seq.) and section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. § 794d).
Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act
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Mandates equal access to services and programs offered by organizations receiving federal funding.
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Requires providing appropriate accommodations, per request, that effect a level playing field.
SMC Board Policy and Administrative Regulations
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Board Policy 2410
(opens in new window) : Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability -
AR 2512
(opens in new window) : Accessibility Standards for Electronic and Information Technology - Section 508
Accessible design benefits many people.
Accessible design is a product development process in which the needs of people with
disabilities are specifically considered. This is related to universal design, a broader
concept defined by The Center for Universal Design (opens in new window) at North Carolina State University as "the design of products and environments to
be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation
or specialized design." Examples of universal design include curb cuts, captions,
and wheeled luggage.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG 2.1 covers a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible.
Following the guidelines will make content more accessible to a wider range of people
with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness
and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and combinations
of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations.
These guidelines address accessibility of web content on any kind of device (including
desktops, laptops, kiosks, and mobile devices). Following these guidelines will also
make web content more usable to users in general.
It is the right thing to do.
Complying with accessible design standards provides equal access and opportunity.
Disability is a relative concept.
For example, if a web page is designed so someone blind who is listening to the page
has full access to the content as well as ease of navigation, this person is not disabled
when listening to the page.