[Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Any new solutions to this publisher proof issue?

[Carpenter, Anne via athen-list]

[like]  Carpenter, Anne reacted to your message:
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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Hayman, Douglass via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 4:23:31 PM
To: Deborah Armstrong <armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Any new solutions to this publisher proof issue?

You bring up great points here Debee,

Much of what you’ve pointed out is similar to what I’ve heard so many in our field struggle with.  That is why when I provided input to the draft of ADA title II, I expressed how unrealistic it was to stick with their earlier version of turnaround time to remediate instructional content and instead pushed for making all instructional content accessible from the beginning.

We know that students with disabilities could be enrolled in one section of a course and decide to change to another section, same topic, different instructor and instructional content or, they could drop one class and pick something entirely different subject to study.  They should have that flexibility just like their peers.  And when they make that change, they should be able to be on the same level playing field as classmates in the new class they picked with instructional content they can use immediately.

Publishers have exaggerated the threat to their bottom line now for decades.  If all of their content was accessible before point of purchase, then we wouldn’t have to do all this remediation in advance or under the gun, timewise.  If they were the ones getting sued for inaccessible content instead of our higher education institutions, then perhaps they’d finally get around to changing their processes.

Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>
(360) 475-7632



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 4:02 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] - [Athen] Any new solutions to this publisher proof issue?

CAUTION: This email came from a non-OC system or external source. Beware of phishing and social engineering!

I’ve had this problem the 25 years I’ve done this job, and I am curious if it’s a problem for others as well.
It’s the middle of the winter quarter. The Spring quarter starts April 6.
One of my more diligent students loves getting her books on time, so she’s learned to make the alt media request early.
The publisher wants either a receipt or information about the full name of the course, what date the book was purchased and where, and how much was paid for the book.
Now our bookstore hasn’t even begun to stock books for Spring quarter. My student got her information by bugging the department dean mercilessly until she got a book list for her Spring course.
I would like to reward such dedication by having her book early, but she has to actually purchase the book before I can get a PDF to be remediated.
The big barrier is the academic freedom that allows our instructors to make last-minute decisions about the books they plan to use for a course. I have talked to faculty about this relentlessly and I am simply ignored.
I can do simple remediations myself but the service I use for anything complex wants the books early, and they prefer a syllabus so for example if they do Braille, they only transcribe/emboss required portions of a book. But I never see a reading list if I’m lucky until the second week of the 12-week quarter, primarily because instructors like to get a feel for the class first before issuing a reading list. And many instructors decide on the fly what to read next week and never issue an assignments list. Over 50 per cent of our teaching faculty is adjunct and hard to track down at the best of times too.
This is community college, so maybe it’s less of an issue at the university level.
--Debee

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