To ensure simultaneous access for students with an accommodation, to better support students who do not disclose their disability, and to meet the institution’s legal obligations under Title II of the ADA, MCLA is committed to making  required digital and text-based course material accessible proactively – i.e.., assume and design for an audience that may use assistive technology – rather than reactively, via accommodations for students with documented disabilities. This proactive accessibility is in addition to, and not a replacement for, the accommodations process for qualified students working with the Office of Disability Resources.

Consistent with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA (currently required for Title II), accessibility of required course materials includes:

• Required multimedia learning materials are accurately captioned, have alt text, and/or have transcripts.
• Required text-based materials are provided in a format that is legible, navigable, and compatible with assistive technologies (i.e., linked text is descriptive; heading and list styles are used as appropriate; PDF text is selectable; character recognition is accurate; and scans are high quality).
• Required third-party tools, platforms, and content (e.g. publisher-provided materials, websites, and videos) are accessible as per the above guidelines.

This effort requires collaboration between faculty, administration, and supporting offices, including The Office of Disability Resources, The Center for Teaching and Learning, The Center for Academic Technology, Information Technology, Freel Library, and The Office of Equal Opportunity.

1. Because faculty alone determine the materials and design of their course – and, indeed, most course content will only be accessed by faculty and students enrolled in the course – for these partnerships to be effective, it is important that faculty:
   1. Report textbook adoptions to MCLA’s campus bookstore vendor by due dates established to comply with the Higher Education Opportunity Act to allow review of textbook format for accessibility by supporting offices.
   2. Make a good-faith effort to identify and address potential barriers to accessibility in required course materials. This includes consulting institution-provided guides and/or workshops, as well as reaching out to supporting offices about any identified issues that cannot easily be addressed.
   3. If a faculty member feels that making required course materials accessible presents an undue burden, would require fundamental alteration of course content, or is otherwise not feasible, it is a faculty member’s responsibility to reach out to Academic Affairs to determine if modifications to the required course materials are possible, or if external support might allow required materials to be made accessible .
2. It is the institution's responsibility to provide faculty with the tools, resources, and support needed to ensure that all required course materials are accessible. This includes:
   1. Built-in software tools for checking accessibility.
   2. Standalone guides and workshops to acquire necessary skills.
   3. Adequate staffing in supporting offices.
   4. Hardware for creating high quality, accessible scans of print documents, and the technical support to use such tools effectively.
   5. External support, as needed and appropriate, to make required course materials accessible.