School districts have need to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities. However, during this Covid-19 pandemic, educators face great challenges to deliver education to their now remote students including those with disabilities.
Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology will struggle to participate in this new digital learning environment. Often Blind students’ learning materials from the digital learning environment are not compatible with screen readers. As a result, these students will have difficulty to navigate course materials or identify images. Most likely there is no feature options to transcribe them to Braille.
Students who have a learning disability (i.e. dyslexic or autism spectrum) require features such as text to speech, voice recognition, or additional writing tools when they participate in the online learning environment.
Students who are deaf have challenges to participate in online discussions or listen to the recorded materials if any supplemental materials or options are not provided.
Students with physical disabilities often face computer access challenges. These individuals most likely have limited hand mobility and require a special keyboard and mouse.
Here are some of the resources which you may find helpful (Please note that some information or interactive sites may not be accessible to all).
Accessible Education Resources
https://www.afb.org/blog/entry/accessible-education-resources
Special education and accessibility resources for remote learning
https://education.microsoft.com/en-us/resource/0c6e9c42
8 must-have interactive learning sites for the digital classroom
https://livetilesglobal.com/8-interactive-learning-sites-digital-classroom/
eLearning Resources
https://www.setda.org/main-coalitions/elearning/accessibility/
Home Learning Resources
https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/covid-19_-_at_home_learning_resources_april_7.pdf
Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/education-awareness/shareable-resources-on-coping-with-covid-19.shtml