Accessibility Is Part of Belonging at Normandale
This toolkit is for Normandale students who create digital content for college business, including student employees, work-study students, shared coursework, student leaders, and college-sponsored clubs and organizations.
Digital accessibility means students, employees, visitors, and community members with disabilities can access information, participate in programs, and use online services with the same independence and timeliness as everyone else.
What Is ADA Title II?
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to state and local government entities, including public colleges and universities. The U.S. Department of Justice updated its Title II regulations in 2024 to add specific requirements for accessible web content and mobile apps used to provide public services, programs, and activities.
For Normandale, this means accessibility is not only about the public website. It also includes digital materials students, faculty, staff, and community members may use to participate in college programs or services.
Why This Matters
The Department of Justice explains that state and local governments now provide many services, programs, and activities through websites and mobile apps, and inaccessible digital tools can create barriers for people with disabilities.
For example, a student who is blind may use a screen reader. If a flyer, web page, or social media image does not include alternative text, the screen reader may not be able to communicate the meaning of that image.
At Normandale, accessibility supports equal participation in:
A common misunderstanding is to treat ADA Title II digital accessibility as a “website-only” issue. The updated rule is broader than that.
For students, accessibility applies to:
What Students are Responsible for:
If you create digital content for Normandale Community College business or coursework shared with the entire class, that content must be accessible.
College business may include:
You are not required to make these accessible unless directed:
If you are unsure whether something counts as college business, ask your supervisor, club advisor, or Student Life contact before posting or distributing it.
The Department of Justice adopted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.1 Level AA, as the technical standard for web and mobile app accessibility under the Title II rule.
WCAG is organized around four accessibility principles:
People must be able to perceive the information being shared.
Examples:
People must be able to navigate and use content.
Examples:
People must be able to understand the content and how to use it.
Examples:
Content must work reliably with different technologies.
Examples:
Use this checklist before posting, emailing, uploading, or sharing college-related content.
Before sharing a Word document, flyer, webpage, or presentation:
Microsoft Office products include accessibility checking tools that help identify barriers such as missing alt text, improper reading order, and table issues. The Microsoft accessibility checker is available in Office apps under the Review tab.
On-Demand Trainings and Tutorials
Accessibility Quick Cards
Use clean, readable fonts for digital materials.
Recommended fonts:
Use:
Avoid:
Color Contrast and Meaning
Color is helpful, but it should not be the only way information is communicated. Better accessibility means using text labels, bold formatting, icons with labels, patterns or symbols and clear instructions.
Instead of this:
“Required items are in red.”
Use this:
“Required items are marked with Required and shown in red.”
Ensuring Appropriate Color Contrast
Descriptive Links
Screen reader users may navigate a page by moving from link to link. Generic links like “click here” do not explain where the link goes.
Avoid:
Use:
Alternative Text for Images
Alt text describes meaningful images for people who use screen readers.
Good alt text example:
“Students sitting at a table in the Kopp Student Center reviewing event flyers.”
Weak alt text example:
“Image”
Decorative image example:
If the image is only decorative and does not add meaning, mark it as decorative when the tool allows.
For social media:
When posting College-related social media content, add alt text to images whenever the platform supports it. If important text appears in the image, include that text in the caption or post body too.
Videos and audio used for Normandale College business should be accessible.
Videos should include:
Audio-only content should include:
Auto-generated captions should be reviewed carefully before publishing. Captions should be accurate enough that students and community members can rely on them.
When creating a Word document for college business:
PDFs can be difficult to make accessible if they begin as scanned images or poorly structured files. If a PDF will be used repeatedly for college business, it should be remediated or replaced with a more accessible format.
Before sharing a PDF:
Before presenting or sharing slides:
When presenting live, describe important visuals so students who cannot see the slide still receive the information.
For Excel files:
D2L Brightspace is Normandale’s online learning environment and is used for online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses.
If you create or maintain content in D2L for a student job, department, program, or organization:
Ensuring HTML Accessibility in D2L Brightspace
D2L Brightspace HTML pages have a built-in accessibility checker.
Normandale student clubs and organizations help create a diverse, welcoming campus community and support student involvement outside the classroom.
If your club or organization is sponsored by Normandale, registered through Student Life, or communicating as part of College business, your digital content should be accessible.
Club content that should be accessible:
Club accessibility habits:
Accessible Events and Meetings
Accessibility applies to digital materials and to how people participate in events.
Before the meeting or event:
During the meeting or event:
After the meeting or event:
Ask yourself:
If yes, make it accessible.
If yes, make it accessible.
If yes, make it accessible.
If yes, ADA Title II digital accessibility requirements generally do not apply unless your instructor, supervisor, or program gives different instructions.
Ask your supervisor, club advisor, Student Life, OSD, or IT before publishing.
The rule applies to state and local government entities, including public colleges and universities.
It applies when students create content for shared coursework, Normandale college business, such as student employment, work-study assignments, department communications, or College-sponsored student organization content.
Usually, no. Personal coursework is not the same as official College business unless your instructor or program gives specific accessibility requirements.
Yes, digital documents such as PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and learning-management-system content may be in scope when they support a public college’s services, programs, or activities. The DOJ rule applies to web content and mobile apps used to provide public services, programs, and activities, and D2L is Normandale’s learning environment for course materials and communication.
Yes, if the social media content is created for College business, a department, student job, or College-sponsored club or organization.
Student creators generally should focus on making new and currently used College business content accessible. The DOJ rule includes limited exceptions for certain archived or pre-existing content, but those exceptions are narrow and should not be used as the main accessibility strategy.
Inaccessible content can prevent students, employees, or community members with disabilities from accessing College programs and services. Title II requires public entities to avoid excluding qualified individuals with disabilities from participation in or denying them the benefits of public services, programs, or activities.
The following resources provide the strongest foundation for understanding and implementing ADA Title II digital accessibility requirements across Minnesota State institutions.
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