How to Tailor Online Accessibility for Your Students’ Individual Needs
People with disability are sometimes treated as a homogenous group – with no difference between their experiences.
But this could not be further from the truth!
Of course everyone person has their own experiences, their own strengths, and their own challenges.
And for people with disability, each person has their own access needs. Some might have none at all, and others may have very specific requirements. No two people are exactly the same.
Universities must consider this
This is an extremely important point for people managing access to university classes and course information. In many places, it is a legal requirement.
Make sure you or your student’s disability support body has taken the time to find out the student’s specific wants and requirements for access to information.
In this article, we let you know how you can provide information accessibility to people with different experiences and disabilities – and Ai-Media offers all of these services!
Our highly-customizable caption viewer is a leader in the industry
Ai-Media is the proud creator of one of the best live caption viewers in the world (known as Ai-Live). This means our live captions can be customized, in real time, to whatever appearance and user experience your student may want or need for access reasons. This includes color, size, font and more. The student has complete control.
Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
For students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, closed captions can make live or video content accessible. You can add captions to live streamed classes or to your pre-recorded video content.
Ai-Media provides captioning services to many, many deaf and hard-of-hearing students across the world. Silvia (below) is just one example!
Some deaf or hard-of-hearing students might also prefer live interpreting, where a sign language interpreter is present during a live stream or added to a recorded video.
Students with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses
For students with mental illness, closed captions provide an alternative means of accessing information that is not so time-dependent.
If a student has trouble absorbing or retaining information in real time, captions and transcripts (which are provided at the end of every captioning session) can be a great help to reference and retain information they have learned.
Students with Dyslexia
Ai-Media live captions can be tailored for students with Dyslexia in a tailored font known as Open Dyslexic font. This font is heavier at the bottom and is easier to interpret for people with Dyslexia.
For hearing Dyslexic students, hearing the words and seeing them in text at the same time can also help to build confidence in recognising letters and words. For deaf Dyslexic students, this font is crucial to ensure that the text is legible for the student.
Students who are blind or have low vision
For students who are blind or have low vision, Audio Description is an essential accessibility service to provide access to video.
Audio Description uses professional voiceover artists or computer-generated voices to describe the visual elements of a video.
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Live captions are extremely beneficial to students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
People with ASD often have difficulty with processing sound. Because live captions provide a visual point of focus for the student, they support students with ASD to focus, participate in classes more, and feel more confident.
Making sure access fits
Remember, even if people share these disabilities with others, there will be a lot of variation in access needs from one person to the next.
Always consult the expert – the student themselves!
And when the student wants to take control over their captions, they can! Our highly-customizable caption viewer means that all students can view captions the way they want. They have complete control of their individual viewing experience.
Get in touch to find out more about our live captions and the other services mentioned above.
