Through a settlement agreement between Ohio State and the federal Office of Civil Rights, Ohio State has pledged to make all of its digital content accessible to individuals with visual impairments who use screen readers to access digital content. Because Qualtrics is licensed at the university level, the university will disable certain question formats that are not compatible with screen readers on January 1, 2019.
Exceptions for Researchers
We have created an exception process for researchers who must have access to these question formats. Exceptions can be requested by filling out this survey.
Exceptions will be considered based on the following scenarios:
- Currently underway research in which data collection is ongoing;
- Research that uses Qualtrics to present visual stimuli (pictures, figures, graphics) to participants;
- Research in which the IRB approval states that individuals with visual impairments are explicitly excluded;
- Research that is attempting exact replication of existing work, where modifying question formats would invalidate the replication.
For other scenarios, exception requests will be reviewed by an ad-hoc committee of faculty researchers. Note that, for researchers with multiple active studies, only a single exception need be requested.
If you are in the process of designing new studies using Qualtrics, please consider carefully whether you wish to exclude individuals with visual impairments, even inadvertently. Such exclusions could challenge the validity of your study. Wherever possible, you should try to be as inclusive as possible in selecting your sample of research participants.
If you have questions contact Jay Johnson at johnson.1043@osu.edu.
Exceptions for Teaching or Administrative Purposes
Requests for exceptions for teaching or administrative purposes are reviewed by the ADA Coordinator’s Office. To initiate a review, complete this form at https://dac.osu.edu/tracking/