The Technology Accessibility Policy Ecosystem: Remedying and Repairing the Digital Exclusion of Disabled Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 3:35 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Policy Influences on Exceptionality Education (Table 11)

Abstract

The systemic use of inaccessible instructional technologies in K-12 excludes disabled students from technology-mediated education. The 2024 ADA Title II regulations require education agencies to ensure their technologies are accessible. But the new regulations are unlikely to repair digital injustices because the regulations are just one component of the complex policy ecosystem. Herein, I report findings from a multiple embedded case study of two state and three local education agencies' that indicate technology accessibility policy enactment occurs in a six level ecosystem and factors within each level mediate enactment by focusing, accelerating, or decelerating the work. I argue that stakeholders must form coalitions and employ ecological approaches to remedy and repair the digital exclusion of disabled students.

Author

• Natalie L. Shaheen, Illinois State University