ACCESSIBILITY AND EDUCATION: ARE WE FULFILLING STATE OF THE ART REQUIREMENTS?
ACCESSIBILITY AND EDUCATION: ARE WE FULFILLING STATE OF THE ART REQUIREMENTS?

Summary/Abstract: Digital accessibility has been supported through several global initiatives, starting with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 Recommendation issued in 1999 and continuing with the WCAG 2.0 ISO 40500 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies, all aiming to make information, services, and functionalities of the web accessible to as many people as possible. Applying such standards and recommendations in education remains an issue, as awareness on accessibility and its requirements is limited among those creating educational content, as well as among those designing and developing educational web sites and applications. Research on digital accessibility has identified lack of awareness, resources, and specific training related to accessibility as key challenges that need to be overcome. The paper presents and discusses the findings of studies that aimed to gather insights on the availability, user-friendliness and use of accessibility features available in tools such as Open Office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, PDF, videos and educational games. Findings have shown that digital accessibility practices are not widely spread, and that the road to a more accessible future is yet to be built.

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