Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Web Accessibility: Digital Equity for Hispanic Students With Disabilities in the 21st Century

Abstract

Spanish

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that all Title IV-participating institutions of higher education publish web accessible websites for students with disabilities. This study sought to evaluate the web accessibility of Hispanic-Serving Institutional (HSI) websites (n = 217). Results suggest that the average HSI website landing page included 447 errors, violating ADA. Most errors were related to font size, color contrast, and hyperlinks and pictures. Implications for research, practice, and support for Hispanic students with disabilities are addressed.

Keywords

Hispanic-Serving Institutions students with disabilities web accessibility people with disabilities Hispanic students technology websites Internet

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agarwal

(2011). Beyond accommodations: Perceptions of students with disabilities in a Hispanic serving institution (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ERIC database. (Publication No. ED537171)

Agarwal

Calvo

Kumar

(2014). Paving the road to success: A students with disabilities organization in a university setting. College Student Journal, 11, 34-44. Retrieved from https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/prin/csj/2014/00000048/00000001/art00004

Baynton

D. C.

(2001). Disability and the justification of inequality in American history. In Longmore

P. K.

Umansky

(Eds.), The new disability history: American perspectives (pp. 33-57). New York: New York University.

Benítez

(1998). Hispanic-serving institutions: Challenges and opportunities. New Directions for Higher Education, 1998, 57-68. doi:10.1002/he.10205

Bradbard

D. A.

Peters

Caneva

(2010). Web accessibility policies at land-grant universities. The Internet and Higher Education, 13, 258-266. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.05.007

Burdett

K. R.

(2013). How students choose a college: Understanding the role of internet based resources in the college choice process (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest database. (UMI No. 3590306).

Carlson

L. L.

(2018). Higher education accessibility lawsuits, complaints, and settlements. Retrieved from http://www.d.umn.edu/~lcarlson/atteam/lawsuits.html

Contreras

F. E.

Malcom

L. E.

Bensimon

E. M.

(2008). Hispanic-serving institutions: Closeted identity and the production of equitable outcomes for Latino/a students. In Gasman

Baez

Turner

C. S.V.

(Eds.), Understanding minority-serving institutions (pp. 71-90). Albany: State University of New York Press.

Daun-Barnett

Das

(2013). Unlocking the potential of the Internet to improve college choice: A comparative case study of college-access Web tools. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 23, 113-134. doi:10.1080/08841241.2013.805708

10.

Edwards

(2005). A new era for technology. Braille Forum, XLIV, 9-13.

11.

Erevelles

(2015). Race. In Adams

Reiss

Serlin

(Eds.), Keywords for disability studies (pp. 145-148). New York: New York University.

12.

Erickson

Trerise

Lee

VanLooy

Knowlton

Bruyère

(2013). The accessibility and usability of college websites: Is your website presenting barriers to potential students? Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 37, 864-876. doi:10.1080/10668926.2010.484772

13.

Evans

N. J.

Broido

E. M.

Brown

K. R.

Wilke

A. K.

(2017). Disability in higher education: A social justice approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

14.

Flowers

Bray

Algozzine

R. F.

(2011). Content accessibility of community college websites. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 25, 475-485. doi:10.1080/10668920152407874

15.

Franco

M. A.

Hernández

(2018). Assessing the capacity of Hispanic serving institutions to serve Latinx students: Moving beyond compositional diversity. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018, 57-71. doi:10.1002/ir.20256

16.

Garcia

G. A.

Núñez

A.-M.

Sansone

V. A.

(2019). Toward a multidimensional conceptual framework for understanding “servingness” in Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A synthesis of the research. Review of Educational Research, 89, 745-784. doi:10.3102/0034654319864591

17.

Garcia

G. A.

Ramirez

J. J.

Patrón

O. E.

Cristobal

N. L.

(2019). Constructing an HSI organizational identity at three Hispanic-serving Institutions in the Midwest: Ideal versus current identity. The Journal of Higher Education, 90, 513-538. doi:10.1080/00221546.2018.1522198

18.

Gasman

Baez

Turner

S. V.

(Eds.). (2008). Understanding minority-serving institutions. Albany: State University of New York Press.

19.

Hackett

Parmanto

(2005). A longitudinal evaluation of accessibility: Higher education web sites. Internet Research, 15, 281-294. doi:10.1108/10662240510602690

20.

Harper

K. A.

DeWaters

(2008). A quest for website accessibility in higher education institutions. The Internet and Higher Education, 11, 160-164. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.007

21.

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universitie. (2017). HACU lists of Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs. Retrieved from https://www.hacu.net/hacu/HSIs.asp

22.

Ismail

Kuppusamy

K. S.

Nengroo

A. S.

(2018). Multi-tool accessibility assessment of government department websites: A case-study with JKGAD. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 13, 504-516. doi:10.1080/17483107.2017.1344883

23.

Jones

S. R.

(1996). Toward inclusive theory: Disability as social construction. NASPA Journal, 33, 347-354. doi:10.1080/00220973.1996.11072421

24.

Kafer

(2013). Feminist, queer, crip. Bloomington: Indiana University.

25.

Kelly

(2002). Web watch: An accessibility analysis of UK university entry points. Ariadne, 33. Retrieved from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/web-watch

26.

Laden

B. V.

(2001). Hispanic-serving institutions: Myths and realities. Peabody Journal of Education, 76, 73-92. doi:10.1207/S15327930PJE7601_05

27.

LaGrow

(2017). The Section 508 refresh and what it means for higher education. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/12/the-section-508-refresh-and-what-it-means-for-higher-education

28.

Manduchi

Kurnaiwan

(Eds.). (2013). Assistive technology for blindness and low-vision. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

29.

McHale

(2011). Browser-based accessibility evaluation tools for beginners. Journal of Web Librarianship, 5, 334-343. doi:10.1080/19322909.2011.623646

30.

Merisotis

J. P.

McCarthy

(2005). Retention and student success at minority-serving institutions. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2005, 45-58. doi:10.1002/ir.138

31.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Integrated postsecondary education data system: Use the data. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data

32.

Nuñez

A.-M.

Sparks

P. J.

Hernández

E. A.

(2011). Latino access to community colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions: A national study. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 10, 18-40. doi:10.1177/1538192710391801

33.

O’Brien

E. M.

Zudak

(1998). Minority-serving institutions: An overview. New Directions for Higher Education, 1998, 5-15. doi:10.1002/he.10201

34.

Scott

(2019, April). Access and participation in higher education: Perspectives of college students with disabilities (Report no. 2). Retrieved from http://www.nccsdonline.org/uploads/7/6/7/7/7677280/na_focus_groups_research_brief_final_pdf.pdf

35.

Taylor

Z. W.

(2018). Web accessibility: Not just for tech experts anymore. Disability Compliance for Higher Education, 23, 5. doi:10.1002/dhe.30416

36.

Taylor

Z. W.

(2019a). HBCUs online: Can students with disabilities access Historically Black College and University websites? Journal of Black Studies, 50, 450-467. doi:10.1177/0021934719847373

37.

Taylor

Z. W.

(2019b). Web (in) accessible: Supporting access to Texas higher education for students with disabilities. Texas Education Review, 7, 60-75. doi:10.26153/tsw/2285

38.

Taylor

Z. W.

Bicak

(2019). Two-year institution and community college web accessibility: Updating the literature after the 2018 Section 508 amendment. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 43, 785-795. doi:10.1080/10668926.2019.1600604

39.

Taylor

Z. W.

LaRonde

Taylor

M. Y.

(2019). Before you click: Publishing accessible websites. The Successful Registrar, 19, 8-9. doi:10.1002/tsr.30609

40.

Tenon LLC. (2019a). Documentation: What Tenon tests. Retrieved from https://tenon.io/documentation/what-tenon-tests.php

41.

Tenon LLC. (2019b). Tenon: Simplify your accessibility. Retrieved from https://tenon.io/index.php

42.

Thompson

Burgstahler

Comden

(2003). Research on web accessibility in higher education. Information Technology and Disabilities Journal, 9. Retrieved from http://itd.athenpro.org/volume9/number2/thompson.html

43.

Thompson

Burgstahler

Moore

E. J.

(2010). Web accessibility: A longitudinal study of college and university home pages in the northwestern United States. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 5, 108-114. doi:10.3109/17483100903387424

44.

Timbi-Sisalima

Amor

I. M.

Otón

Hilera

J. R.

Aguado-Delgado

(2018). Comparative analysis of online web accessibility evaluation tools. Information Systems Development: Complexity in Information Systems Development. Retrieved from http://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings2016/CreativitySupport/3

45.

United States Department of Justice and Civil Rights. (2017). The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and revised ADA regulations: Implementing title II and title III. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/2010_regs.htm

46.

U.S. General Services Administration. (2018). IT accessibility laws and policies: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Retrieved from https://www.section508.gov/manage/laws-and-policies

47.

U.S. General Services Administration. (2019). Do Section 508 accessibility standards apply to my website? Retrieved from https://www.section508.gov/blog/do-section-508-accessibility-standards-apply-to-mywebsite

48.

Venegas

K. M.

(2006). Internet inequalities: Financial aid, the Internet, and low-income students. American Behavioral Scientist, 49, 1652-1669. doi:10.1177/0002764206289147

49.

W3C. (2019). Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) overview. Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

50.

Wisdom

J. R.

White

N. A.

Goldsmith

K. A.

Bielavitz

Davis

C. E.

Drum

(2006). An assessment of web accessibility knowledge and needs at Oregon community colleges. Community College Review, 33, 19-37. doi:10.1177/009155210603300302