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Summer Term Begins May 13

Faculty Resources

We know you want your students to be successful, and Accessibility Services is here to support and assist you.

Just-in-Time Training Videos 

These brief Just in Time videos are designed to answer common questions that faculty may have about students with disabilities, Accessibility Services, and student accommodations. They are about three minutes each. If you have any questions, please contact us.

When a Student Needs Accommodations

  • Students with disabilities register with Accessibility Services and will receive a Student Accommodation Statement (SAS) listing all accommodations that the student may utilize.
  • Instructors will receive a copy of the student's SAS, viewable on Accommodate.
  • The instructor and student should privately discuss accommodations the student will need to utilize for each course.

Please note that persons with the same disabilities do not always use the same accommodations

If you suspect a student has a disability and is experiencing barriers in their class, please contact us. We are happy to support faculty and their students.

Students are Encouraged to Advocate for Themselves

  • In order to receive accommodations through Accessibility Services, students with disabilities must provide us with diagnostic documentation. 
  • We encourage students to have meaningful conversations with their instructors about the accommodations they will use.

If you have any questions, concerns, or issues please contact Accessibility Services staff for support.

Classroom Accommodations

Accommodations provide students with equal opportunity to obtain the same outcomes that students without barriers receive during their education at CNM. A reasonable accommodation is any modification, adjustment or auxiliary aid that enables a qualified student or employee with a disability to equitably participate. Accommodations will look different for each student.

Accommodations are changes made to the environment and/or to educational material to enable equal access. Accommodations will be listed on the Student Accommodation Statement (SAS). Examples of specific accommodations are, but not limited to:

  • Books in an alternative format
  • Extended test time
  • Changes in the length of time permitted to complete degree or course requirements
  • Readers/Writers
  • Sign Language Interpreters
  • Adaptive technology 
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Universal Design for Learning is an approach to teaching aimed at making a learning environment accessible to all students regardless of their age, size, or disability. The CAST website provides more information about Universal Design.

Textbooks
Textbooks should have an accessible digital version.
If the textbook is an eBook, instructors should ask if it's accessible. Here are some things to consider:

  • Supplemental information such as sidebars, images, charts and footnotes should be separate from the main content.
  • Screen reader users need to be able to hear the main content without interruption, and then choose to hear supplemental information.
  • Content should not be presented only as an image because screen readers can't read images.
  • A table of contents that links to the text makes it easier to navigate through the book.
  • Tables should have headers so screen reader users can find their place easily. Captions should also be provided that summarize the table.
  • Images should have alternative text that explains the information in the image.
  • Page numbers should be included that match the print version of the book.
  • Math should be presented in MathML format so screen readers can read it.
  • All videos need captions.
  • All audio needs a transcript.
  • Interactive content should be accessible to screen reader users and keyboard-only users.
Captioning Videos
Captioning is a great learning tool for all students, not just an accommodation for students with disabilities. Studies have shown that all students comprehend and retain more information when a video has captions. In some studies, students who have had access to captioned materials had a GPA that was a full point higher than their peers who did not have captioned material. Please choose videos that have closed captions for your students, and turn on captions when showing a video in class. 

How to search for a captioned version of a video

  • Google
    • Google Advanced Search
    • Scroll down to subtitles
    • Choose closed-captioned only
  • YouTube
    • Search YouTube for the video
    • Choose FILTER on the right
    • Under FEATURES choose Subtitles/CC.

Videos should all be captioned in an ADA compliant way. If you'd like to get a sense of good captioning practice, have a look at Described and Captioned Media Program's captioning tip sheet. If instructors create videos, the files should be in MP4 format for captioning. If the video comes from YouTube, please send us the YouTube link. For all other videos, captioning capabilities may vary. Please contact jwyche1@cnm.edu for all captioning

PDFs
Some PDFs are scanned documents, meaning that they are an image of the text. Screen readers cannot access the text from this type of PDF. PDFs may be accessible if they were generated from an accessible document. Please see below for tips to make your PDFs more accessible:
  • Avoid scanning physical texts to create PDFs
  • Create PDFs from a source document that's already accessible, like a Word document with headers
  • Convert PDFs by using the Acrobat tab in Word and PowerPoint rather than by using the print to PDF function
  • Try testing if your PDF will read aloud. In Acrobat, you can do this by going to View--> Read Out Loud--> Activate Read Out Loud, then going to View--> Read Out Loud--> Read This Page Only.

If you have any trouble with PDFs, please contact jwyche1@cnm.edu for additional help.