Accessibility

ADA Compliance and Accessibility for Students with Disabilities

All eLearning courses must comply with the requirements established by the American with Disabilities Act's Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in 1998, as well as with chapter 6 of the 2008 Omnibus Version of the California Community Colleges Distance Education Guidelines.

Instructors and students may consult with counselors in the WVC Disability and Educational Support Program (DESP). DESP assists students with disabilities to achieve their educational goals by providing a variety of services and specialized courses designed to insure access to all campus programs, services and facilities, and to facilitate maximum student independence and success.

Instructors may also consult the WVC Disability and Educational Support Program Faculty Handbook. And students may consult the WVC Disability and Educational Support Program Student Handbook.

Instructors refer students to DESP and provide contact information for DESP and include the DESP statement in their syllabi: “West Valley College makes reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities (visible or invisible). Course materials will be available in alternate formats upon request, as well as other accommodations directly related to the educational limitations of the verified disability. Students with any special needs should contact the Disability and Education Support Program (DESP) at 408-741- 2010.

Additionally, West Valley College provides necessary and appropriate training for instructors in order to ensure that they understand what constitutes ADA compliance and accessibility for students with disabilities. This training includes:

• Creating visual and auditory information with synchronized closed or open captions, descriptive narration, text transcripts, or other applicable accommodations.

• Providing, when possible, printed information in the alternative format preferred by the student (i.e., electronic text, Braille, audio, large print.)

• Accommodating students with special needs with synchronous communication including telephone, TTY and other technology.

• Ascertaining that alternate material is provided when websites not controlled by the college (but required or realistically necessary for completion of a course) are not accessible to students with special needs.

• Understanding that the college is not required to fundamentally alter programs of instruction to accommodate students with disabilities, but that if an alternate accommodation is available, it should be provided.

Additional Information from DESP

• West Valley College is committed to providing accessible course content to students with disabilities. Creating accessible online course content is necessary when creating content for all online instructional materials. This includes online content for face-to-face and hybrid courses as well as courses offered in a distance learning format. The requirement to create accessible course content is a legal mandate. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in 1998 specifies that electronic and information technology must be accessible to individuals with disabilities. In the context of course materials, this means that all information must be accessible to students with disabilities. The following are resources to assist faculty in making their course content more accessible. For further information please contact the Disability and Educational Support Program.

  • Laws, Guidelines, and Publications

    • West Valley College Accessibility Workshop Video (coming soon)

    • Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

    • California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

    • Chancellor’s Office Distance Education Access Guidelines

    • West Valley College Creating Accessible Course Content Checklist

    • DESP Faculty Handbook

    • Grants

  • Distance Education Captioning and Transcription (DECT) High Tech Center Training Unit at De Anza College

    • Grant for captioning online course content

      • Contact the Alternate Media Specialist for more information

    • Training

      • Training is free to all California Community College employees

  • Tools and Tutorials

    • WAVE 508 Accessibility Checker

    • Creating Accessible Word Documents

    • Creating Accessible PDFs

    • Creating Accessible PowerPoint Documents

    • Creating Accessible Web Pages with Dreamweaver

    • E-Text: An Introduction to Alternative Format

    • Creating a Video Transcript

    • Captioning YouTube Videos

    • Adding Captions in Camtasia Studio