Jarret Cummings
Senior Advisor for Policy and Government Relations,
EDUCAUSE
TEACH Act Update: The Path to Voluntary Guidelines for Accessible Instructional Materials
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 | 2:00PM–3:00PM
Session Type:
Professional Development
In November 2013, the Technology, Equality, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education (TEACH) Act was introduced in Congress. The bill was intended to foster the development of voluntary accessibility guidelines for postsecondary electronic instructional materials and related technologies. The higher education community, however, expressed concern that the way the act sought to accomplish this would likely prevent it from doing so, to the detriment of both students with disabilities and the institutions that seek to serve them. Starting in the fall of 2014, major higher education associations, including the American Council on Education (ACE) and EDUCAUSE, began working with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to develop a legislative proposal that could achieve the shared goal of all three communities-generating sustained progress in the accessibility of postsecondary electronic instructional materials. This webinar will address the progress the groups have achieved in developing draft legislation, including its core elements, as well as its likely path through the legislative process.
