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Accessibility

Accessible Information Management (AIM)

Austin Community College District (ACC) has a “one-stop shop” for Student Accessibility Services (SAS), known as Accessible Information Management (AIM). AIM streamlines services and allows faculty, staff, and students to use one platform while ensuring confidentiality.

All SAS students are now able to log into the AIM system and request accommodations, schedule exams, make appointments, and more. Additionally, faculty have a single system to review, submit, and monitor services for students.


AIM Login

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

For students officially receiving access/disability-related academic accommodations through SAS, faculty will receive an official SAS Faculty Notification Letter (FNL) through the AIM at any point prior to or throughout the semester. Provide the accommodations as outlined in the Faculty Notification Letter (accommodation letter).

      1. Prepare your course materials before the beginning of the semester to ensure they are accessible to as many students as possible. For example, use built-in accessibility checkers (Blackboard Ally, GrackleDocs, review tools in MS Word and Powerpoint) to test the accessibility of your documents. Add alt text to all images being presented through Blackboard, MS Word, Google Suite, Powerpoint, etc.
      2. Review the information available here about semester preparation and faculty responsibilities when working with students with disabilities.
      3. Provide the accommodations as outlined in the Faculty Notification Letter (accommodation letter).
      4. Permit students to use auxiliary aids and technology that ensure access. Depending on the disability, the student might use a phone, tablet, or laptop to utilize approved assistive technologies. Students might also use digital recording devices, Access Assistants, notetakers, assistive listening devices, electronic braille displays, etc.
      5. If your exams require proctoring and you cannot accommodate the SAS student with their approved testing accommodations within the department, please be sure to complete the Testing Agreement Form.  A link to this form will be included in the Faculty Notification Letter OR you can access it by logging in to your faculty portal in AIM.
      6. We recommend students and instructors discuss testing and classroom accommodation implementation as soon as the Faculty Notification Letter is received. Instructors are welcome to initiate this discussion.
      7. Contact SAS@austincc.edu or the advocate who approved the accommodations with any questions.
      8. Students have a right to confidentiality. If you need to have a discussion with them about their accommodations, do so in private.
      9. Please respond promptly to emails from SAS staff. Emails may come from individual staff members, SAS@austincc.edu, SASTest@austincc.edu, or SAS-noncredit@austincc.edu.
      10. Please respond to requests for a semester planning meeting for students enrolled in your course. These meetings are critical to ensure that semester materials are available in the appropriate format, allowing the student to fully participate.
      11. If a student discloses that they have a disability or requests accommodations without official SAS notification, please complete this referral form and SAS staff will contact them.

Accessible Documents and Course Materials

Alternative Text and Media (Alt Text Media) specializes in providing classroom materials to students with print disabilities. To learn more about how alternative text and media works for students here at ACC, or how to best support a student who may utilize this accommodation from SAS, please email AltText@austincc.edu. For more information about accessible formats and faculty, staff, and community resources, visit Alternative Text and Media Services at ACC.

Grackle Docs simplifies the process of making Google Docs accessible and will generate tagged PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) from Google Docs. This new extension is available to all ACC Google Suite for Education users logged in with their …@austincc.edu email address. Grackle is a set of AI-powered accessibility-checking tools that make it easy to identify barriers and quickly fix any issues from the Grackle panel without leaving the document. The Grackle accessibility extension is available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides from the main menu. Just go to Extensions and choose Grackle from the drop-down, and hit Launch.

To learn more about fixing accessibility barriers with Grackle in Google Docs try the Self-Guiding Walkthrough for Grackle Docs. Follow the document instructions to fix the issues from the Grackle panel. This self-guiding document will show you how Grackle makes it easy to improve document accessibility and apply best practices with its simple find-and-fix features.

To learn more about fixing accessibility barriers with Grackle in Google Docs try the Self-Guiding Walkthrough for Grackle Docs., and follow the document instructions to fix the document issues from the Grackle panel. This self-guiding document will show you how Grackle makes it easy to improve document accessibility and apply best practices with its simple find-and-fix features.

Document Accessibility Resources (Google Drive Share)

Contents:

    • Self-Guiding Walkthrough for Grackle Docs (Google Doc)
    • ACC Accessibility Resources Guide (PDF)
    • Accessible Document Guides
    • Create an Accessible Table in MS Word (.docx tutorial)

For more information on Grackle Docs contact the Alt Text & Media Department at alttext@austincc.edu. Learn more about improving the accessibility of your course materials and documents:

Sign Language Interpreting & Captioning Services

You may have a student who relies on communication access to participate in your course and may utilize sign language interpreting and/or captioning accommodations for a course you are currently teaching, or for an upcoming semester. It is best to prepare all your course materials ahead of the beginning of the semester to ensure they are accessible.

    • Prepare all your course materials ahead of the beginning of the semester to ensure they are accessible.
    • Request captioning of all videos. Any questions can be sent to captionmymedia@austincc.edu. We will work to create captions within your needed time frame, and, we urge you to request captioning as early as possible.
    • Add Interpreters to Blackboard as Students. Any questions regarding interpreters, email interpservices@austincc.edu