[blindLaw] Section 504 / A D A: Responsibilities for textbook accessibility for public college students

[Bad Penguin]

Hello!

Apologies if this has been covered before, or is the wrong list. As I am specifically interested in the legal responsibilities involved, I believe this to be a better forum than blind students.

I am curious about what legal responsibilities, if any, a publisher, a public university or the public university’s Accessibility Services office have regarding ensuring that textbooks are fully accessible and available in a timely manner.

The concern is about textbooks which significantly involve graphs, charts, tables and illustrations, which are either fully omitted from the publisher provided quote accessible unquote digital file of the book. Which does not include any captions to describe what is included in the print book, as well as including mathematical and statistical symbols as untagged / unlabeled graphic images within a Microsoft docx file, as opposed to screen readable a s c i i.

As such, based strictly on the text being made available, the textbook may arguably be eighty percent accessible. Missing about twenty percent of the material from the omitted graphs, charts, tables, illustrations, or the use of untagged / unlabeled graphical images to represent mathematical and statistical symbols within a Microsoft Word docx file.

Is it the responsibility of the publisher to ensure that a textbook is accessible, with no gaps, so that a print impaired individual has equal access to the material as would print readers?

Is it the responsibility of the public University or the public University’s Accessibility Services office to fill in any missing gaps that the publisher has left?

Is it the responsibility of the student to fill in any missing gaps that the publisher has left?

Thanking you in advance for your insights!