Striving for Universal Access to Information

 Liberty and Justice For All. These are the last five words of the American Pledge of Allegiance. Written in 1892 and recited everyday by millions of people, including students in the United States, the pledge is a statement of patriotic sentiment, national unity, and allegiance (Westheimer, 2006). If the citizenry is to enjoy the blessings of liberty and justice, access must be universal. Universal access refers to the removal of obstacles that hinder anyone from using or benefiting from the various systems, including educational opportunities.

“If you don’t have access to information in the first place, it is very difficult to protect education, health, the safety of journalists or the other right in the digital ecosystem” - Guillerme Canela

Claims have been made about online learning and its ability to remove or mitigate teaching and learning barriers such as distance, geography, building designs, and transportation issues (Appana, 2008). Efforts to address these obstacles should always extend to the tools and means of learning. It is a relatively recent consideration, given rapid advancements in technology. The pandemic has made clear how dependent we are on technology and the dangers that vulnerable individuals with access hardship face (Grant, 2021). Learning institutions and organizations are now required to provide accessible content on websites, apps, and platforms as a result of increased awareness, litigations, and legislation.

The good news is, there are simple fixes, thanks again to the technological advancement we all enjoy today. This week, my awareness expanded to include a plethora of accessibility tools for use by instructors, learners, course designers and advocates to further ensure access to online content. I recall performing accessibility audits of websites a few years ago and the process involved reviewing the HTML of each page one line at a time. These days, it seems technology can do it all. Web content accessibility involves the use of innovative tools supported by technical guidelines. Webaim.org, for example, has tools for evaluating the accessibility of documents and websites in real-time, with suggestions offered when content needs accessibility improvement. For those seeking additional resources and technical details foundational to digital accessibility, the information found on the Web Accessibility Initiative part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at https://www.w3.org/WAI/ should not be missed. Perhaps the most significant of my discoveries is the existence of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) which is celebrated on September 28. Proclaimed by the United Nations back in 2015, the day observed annually brings awareness to the importance of access to information as a basic human right and that no one should be denied access to knowledge because of a disability, language, gender, income, location, etc.

As more and more learners consider options for learning, determining the number of people with disabilities doing the same can be a difficult task. We know there will be those who will struggle with access, and addressing barriers to educational opportunities goes beyond facilities and buildings.

References

Appana, S. (2008). A review of benefits and limitations of online learning in the context of the student, the instructor and the tenured faculty. International Journal on E-learning, 7(1), 5-22.

Grant, S. (2021). Lessons from the pandemic: Congress must act to mandate digital accessibility for the disabled community. U. Mich. JL Reform, 55, 45.

Westheimer, J. (2006). Politics and patriotism in education. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(8), 608-620.

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