The Impact of Inaccessible School Materials on Parents with Disabilities
Last week I read an article regarding The Impact of Inaccessible School Materials on Parents with Disabilities I must confess that was eye opening, as I had never considered this possible consequence.
As we move deeper into the digital age, it’s critical for students to access the materials they need from the school’s website. What about their parents? Often parents help their children with their homework. In addition, websites also provide access to key school documents, such as newsletters and policies.
If a parent has a disability, he or she will not be able to help their children in the event that a school’s website design and its contents are inaccessible. Assistive technologies, such as screen readers, are simply not able to read inaccessible documents.
Meanwhile, school policies and newsletters are often in PDF format. What happens if the parent cannot access these because they are not accessible? How he or she going to stay informed of the current events and also their school’s policies, as they update them? This creates serious limitations for parents and children alike.
While families and schools can find clever ways to overcome these difficulties, the technology does exist to make school website’s and their materials accessible.
Fortunately, help is on the way to help schools make their websites inclusive. Stay tuned!