Bureau Steps In To Ensure Digital Accessibility Amid COVID-19 Crisis

EAST GREENWICH, R.I., April 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During the past few weeks, institutions around the world have scrambled to meet the needs of students who must now engage online instead of in classrooms. To help ensure their online accessibility meets the needs of all learners, the Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) is offering its ErrorCast^TM at a 95 percent discount through June 1. After completing a thorough scan of the organization's website, BoIA will deliver its ErrorCast^TM accessibility compliance report, along with recommendations for how to fix digital accessibility problems.

The current price of the report is $850. Institutions that take advantage of BoIA's 95 percent discount receive the report for $42.

"In light of the COVID pandemic, so many institutions were called upon to transform their teaching methods very quickly, and they may not have considered the impact on students of diverse abilities," says Mark Shapiro, president of the Bureau of Internet Accessibility. "We recently conducted automated assessments of 12 of the nation's most highly-rated elementary schools' websites, and found that nearly half of the checkpoints failed."

Globally, one in five people has a disability. Some, for example, may utilize modified hue depiction for color blindness, while others use assistive technologies such as screen readers or blow tubes to access the Internet. Without attention to accessibility features, learners with disabilities such as photosensitive epilepsy, cognitive impairments, blindness, low vision, deafness, and being hard of hearing, among others, may find it difficult or impossible to navigate digital platforms. To address these needs, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires websites, mobile applications, kiosks, and digital documents to be ADA accessible.

"We want to help schools comply quickly with ADA standards, which is why we are making our trusted ErrorCast report available at only 5 percent of the cost," adds Shapiro. "It's our goal to ensure our nation thrives during this pandemic and, like most businesses, we keep providing jobs for our workers."

The ErrorCast report provides third-party, objective digital analysis of distance learning platforms. It prioritizes compliance issues, identifying those that are most critical so the institution can address the most essential issues first. And, for many compliance issues, BoIA can provide HTML code examples and links to additional resources for quick and easy remediation.

Education institutions that would like to take advantage of this offer can get ErrorCast here.

ABOUT THE BUREAU OF INTERNET ACCESSIBILITY
The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) strives to make the Internet accessible to everyone. We offer a suite of services that audit businesses' online presence, identify areas of noncompliance, and make recommendations for how problem areas can be fixed. We also provide ongoing monitoring and support. With 20 years of experience, BoIA has audited more than 60,000 websites in the U.S. and around the world in virtually every industry and field.

SOURCE Bureau of Internet Accessibility