The students, Christopher Toth and Jamie Principato, were unable to access homework and tests in a mathematics class because the eLearning system, eGrade, was incompatible with screen reader technology.
Furthermore, students were required to use small remote-control ‘clickers’ to answer multiple-choice questions during lectures, which were also not accessible to Toth and Principato.
The students’ case was filed with help from the National Federation of the Blind, which has filed similar accessibility complaints against other institutions.
The latest complaint was lodged earlier this year against Northwestern and New York Universities after they adopted Google Apps for Education. A report into the accessibility of Google Apps for Education released just last week has also cautioned all US universities on campus-wide adoption of these products based on the accessibility issues present.
More information about the case against Florida State University can be found in The Chronicles of Higher Education.
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