Answers

1. If a student doesn't register with the disability office, we don't have to worry about it. 
   
   Well, false. If a student doesn't register with the Disability Office, they don't get any special help or loan of assistive technology equipment or software, but if they take your online course, they might already have a screen reader on their home computer. So you are still responsible for the information offered.
   
   
2. Only non-disabled people take my class so the rules don't apply to me. 
   
   Uh, false. All classes are open and available to all qualified students, disabled or not. Many disabilities are not visible. And if you are teaching an online class, you can't even see the visible ones. Some sources say that 1 out of every 12 Americans has a disability; would you alienate that one? Other sources say that internet use is increasing, and that the users are aging. Aging disabilities bring problems with mobility, vision and cognition. Want to know who might be taking your online course? Read this article, Who's Surfing? from the American Federation of the Blind.
   
   
3. Giving a vision impaired student a computer with screen reader software can solve all accessibility problems for my course.
   
   Not always. If your course pages are not compliant, the screen reader software will not be able to read the page. If you fail to add an alt tag to an image, for instance, the smartest gadget to date cannot describe the image to a vision-impaired person. In other words, assistive technology cannot read your mind.
   
   
4. I don't need to learn any advanced web authoring skills to make my course pages accessible.
   
   Yes and No, depending on what you call advanced. You might need to know a few things, like terminology and a little common sense on how the web works. Accessibility should not be intimidating - in fact, knowing about what makes a page accessible should make web authoring easier!
   
   
5. An accessible web page is by nature of its very accessibility, boring.
   
   Nope. Many people think the easier road to accessibility is to offer it "text only." Text only is boring, and graphic designers strive hard not to be boring. The WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) Guidelines are all about adding information, not stripping away the parts of your page that keep it from being dull.
   
   
6. Web accessibility is only useful to people with disabilities.
   
   Wrong! Web accessibility helps everyone by making the content easier to follow and the design cleaner. 
   
   
7. To get around the accessibility laws, college courses should be offered in two formats: with images and text only.
   
   Again, no. Go back and read the answer to #5 again.
   
   
8. If you use captions for images, you don't need to use alt tags.
   
   Oh? Then how will a screen reader know what caption goes with what image?
   
   
9. The alt tag of an image should be the same for all audiences. 
   
   No. What makes sense for kindergarten students probably won't to a college student and vice versa. 
   
   
10. Section 508 is for federal agencies only, it really doesn't apply to educational institutions.
    
    Not really. Educational institutions have as much at stake as federal agencies. Where does your institution's funding come from? Many states have added laws that are stricter than Section 508. And besides, isn't web accessibility a good idea for everyone? 

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