[Nfbmt] National Federation of the Blind Applauds DOJ Settlement with edX

[Sheila Leigland]

great post.
On 4/2/2015 5:57 PM, Bruce&Joy Breslauer via Nfbmt wrote:
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CONTACT:
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
> National Federation of the Blind Applauds DOJ Settlement with edX
>
> Baltimore, Maryland (April 2, 2015): The National Federation of the Blind
> <http://www.nfb.org/> , the nation's leading advocate for equal access by
> the blind to educational technology,  today applauded a settlement agreement
> <http://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/united-states-reaches-settlement-provider
> -massive-open-online-courses-make-its-content>  reached by the United States
> Department of Justice with edX, Inc., a nonprofit platform created by MIT
> and Harvard University for select universities to offer massive open online
> courses (MOOCs) to students throughout  the world. The settlement agreement,
> which resolves allegations of discrimination under Title III of the
> Americans with Disabilities Act, requires edX to make its website, mobile
> apps, content management system, and other components of its MOOC platform
> accessible to the blind and other students with disabilities. edX will also
> provide guidance to developers of MOOCs that use its platform to help make
> course content fully accessible. The settlement was announced by Carmen M.
> Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, and Acting Assistant
> Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division of the United
> States Department of Justice.
>   
> Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
> "We applaud this landmark settlement agreement, which sends a clear message
> to providers of online courses and educational technology that their content
> and services must be accessible to students with disabilities. The creation
> and distribution of inaccessible educational content and technology denies
> students with disabilities an equal education and is therefore a form of
> discrimination against them. Indeed, the propagation of inaccessible
> education materials is particularly egregious because digital information is
> inherently accessible and is only made inaccessible by flawed platform
> design. We commend the United States Department of Justice for its
> commitment to equal access for all students, and we commend edX for agreeing
> to take the needed steps to provide that access."
>   
>
>
>
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