.. _edX Accessibility Guidelines:

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What Is The edX Accessibility Best Practices Guidance Based On?
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.. tags:: educator, concept

.. note:: This content has been migrated from legacy edx.org docs and has not yet been adjusted for the Open edX® Community

edX measures and evaluates accessibility primarily using the World Wide Web Consortium's
`Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 <https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/>`_
(05 June 2018). All features that are merged into edX repositories are
expected to `conform <https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#conformance>`_ to `Level AA
<https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#cc1>`_ of this specification and satisfy the
requirements outlined in the edX `Website Accessibility Policy
<https://www.edx.org/accessibility>`_.

As the edX platform is strongly based on well-accepted `HTML5 markup standards <https://html.spec.whatwg.org/>`_ and `WAI-ARIA <https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/>`_, we expect that learners who require additional accessibility tools such as screen readers and screen magnifiers will enjoy strong compatibility. We test regularly with the most popular accessibility tools.

In addition, our guidance is based on principles of `universal
design <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design>`_ (usable by all, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for
adaptation or specialized design) and `Universal Design for Learning (UDL) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Design_for_Learning>`_. Course teams who build courses based on these principles create an inclusive experience that considers the diverse set
of learning styles and needs of all learners, including learners with
disabilities, learners whose native language is not English, and learners with
technical issues such as low bandwidth internet or no access to audio.

To supplement the
accessibility of the materials you can create within our platform, we recommend that
you engage the resources available at your institution to support learners
with disabilities. Most institutions offer disability support services and
information technology resources that provide accessibility advice and
support. These trained professionals typically provide the following services, which may be equally applicable to courses that are taught online:

* Help with making disability accommodation decisions and advise you on what accommodations may be appropriate in light of the goals of the course and the instructional methodologies employed.

* Help with `document accessibility remediation <https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html>`_

* For live events, they can help with sourcing providers for learners' `real-time captioning <https://www.nad.org/resources/technology/captioning-for-access/communication-access-realtime-translation/>`_, `signed-language interpretation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_interpretation#Sign_language>`_, or `cued speech transliteration <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cued_speech>`_ needs.

For more information, see the following topics.

* :ref:`Supporting Learners with Diverse Needs`
* :ref:`Accessibility Best Practices for Course Content Development`

.. seealso::
 :class: dropdown

 :ref:`Accessibility Best Practices for Course Content Development` (concept)

 :ref:`Designing for Mobile` (concept)

 :ref:`Supporting Learners with Diverse Needs` (concept)

 :ref:`Accessibility Checker` (reference)