{"id":1272,"date":"2025-08-25T10:15:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/?p=1272"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:07:15","slug":"what-does-inaccessibility-look-like-see-for-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/2025\/08\/25\/what-does-inaccessibility-look-like-see-for-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Inaccessibility Look Like? See for yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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by Jennifer Zaylea<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"What\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Designing accessible course materials starts with empathy\u2014but building empathy requires awareness.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

For those who don\u2019t regularly face digital barriers, it can be difficult to recognize just how inaccessible some experiences can be. For an individual with a vision impairment, using a screen reader to scan through a document that does not meet accessibility guidelines would be at best time-consuming and irritating, at worst incomprehensible. An individual relying on captions may miss critical information in a video if non-spoken sounds aren\u2019t captioned correctly. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

This <\/span>video<\/span><\/a> will give you a taste of what that inaccessibility looks like. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span>Try it with your course materials! We recommend using <\/span>accessibility tools to examine your course content<\/span><\/b> through a different lens.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

These activities are <\/span>not meant to replicate or equate to the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities.<\/span><\/b> Instead, they offer a starting point for understanding how digital content design choices can create\u2014or remove\u2014barriers for many learners.<\/span><\/p>

Try a Native Screen Reader<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>

Now it\u2019s your turn!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Use your device\u2019s built-in screen reader to navigate one of your course pages in Canvas. Navigate to the page and access the screen reader:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Mac (VoiceOver):<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>