Disabled Student's complain of unfair treatment

Online education has gained popularity in the past 5 years with the many colleges cashing in on the ecollege experience. Attending school from the comfort of one's home is an opportunity for many people with disabilities to achieve their dream of a college education, But at what cost? The American with Disabilities Act protects the rights of a person with disabilities to have access to education on a physical campus . Does this also apply to colleges that offer degree programs online? Are disability service departments in higher education protecting the rights of the disabled students?
Lets explore for a moment the structure of the online environment in the education system. Many colleges use a live class format which contains scrolling text that the student can not control. A visually impaired student who uses screen readers or refreshable braille displays often encounter difficulty with these formats. Video feeds that are not close captioned or provide an alternative printed format creates difficulties for a student with hearing difficulties. Internet field trips that demand students to view pages on the World Wide Web which have rapid flashing lights in ads and other formats can trigger seizures for students who suffer from photo sensitivity. Live chat classroom, white boards and discussion threads can often pose difficulties for a student who uses adaptive devices which is needed when paralysis exist. What recourse do students have to overcome these obstacles?
These obstacles and so many more are a daily part of a online student with disabilities and a student is advised to obtain an accommodation for their disability when they enroll in an online college but how does the accommodation help the student? Most common is the extra 2 days that is often given for assignments to be completed; although, extra time does not remove the obstacles. Many colleges frequently change the format of their ecollege portals and do not give advance warning to a student with disabilities. When the software they support is changed a student will often find out the hard way when they can no longer participate in the online classroom and thus are forced to invest in new software which can become quite pricey if changes are made often.
The Internet is a wonderful opportunity to exchange information, yet many disabled people are being left out from the ability to improve their lives due to issues of accessibility. Disability services often brush away students complaints and the student is left with the choice to either continue going into debt for the sake of the degree or give up on their dreams and cut their losses. You might say, well they can go to a tradition campus. I might say so can people without disabilities but the fact remains that everyone should have the right to access the same information regardless of skin color, religious preference and even disability.
Do you know of an online university which has withheld funds from a student for living expenses that they applied for on their loan? Do you know of a student that has been singled out in a live class setting or threaded discussion that caused this student humiliation? Do you know a student who has filed a formal complaint which was brushed aside and did not involve the student in the resolution? The interesting aspect to this is how everything is documented in the online environment so there is no disputing the facts and yet it appears that there is no place for a student to turn to , it does not matter if the student is disabled or not.
This is your opportunity to sound out. If you want to join together for a common voice and do something to make the online environment better for all students, speak out. Lets join together to make the online learning system take accountability for its actions. Feel free to email me and post student complaint in the title of your email.
In the next blog I will address documented issues and law suits that no one wants to address, in part due to the issue of how one's rights can be enforced on the World Wide Web. If you have a complaint about a specific college please use this format to network with others to form a voice to bring about change.
Disabled with a voice.