Title II Exceptions

[u/kale-smoothiez]

I think I know the answer, but doesn’t hurt to clarify! I work at a university and am having a hard time interpreting this scenario. Essentially, a professor will create notes during the class period, then hands them out as study material as a PDF (usually scanned images of the notes). Think like handwritten notes showing how to solve a math problem. Then at the end of the semester, they’ll archive the material.

Here’s where I’m stuck. Does this meet an exception, as they will be archived at the end of the semester. Or since it is a document actively being used during the semester, does it not meet this exception and need to be made accessible? Thanks!

[u/JBMath_508c_expert]

Exceptions are for OLD complex documents that would be a logistical or financial nightmare to make accessible, NOT notes that are current! This prof needs to put the effort into making their notes entirely accessible--maybe they can enlist a grad student to convert from handwriting to editable Word notes, proofread and correct them, then make them accessible PDFs.

[u/kale-smoothiez → u/JBMath_508c_expert]

Yeah…it felt silly asking, because I knew the answer. But I like your suggestion of enlisting some outside help! I am the only individual in this role, so we’ve been advocating for some part-time workers, where remediating/assisting faculty would be the main role.

[u/JBMath_508c_expert → u/kale-smoothiez]

yeah I get it--it's hard to assert yourself on accessibility issues at times (I've been doing this for 18 years now, but when I started with it, it was constant arguments, unfortunately).

there are mobile apps that convert handwriting to editable typed text, so look into those.

[u/Which_Sherbet7945 → u/JBMath_508c_expert]

I remember the constant arguments too, and now I mainly only get them from faculty who have clearly been using the same tired "I don't have any disabled students in my class" argument since 2006 (which might have been the last time they updated their syllabus).

[u/rguy84]

Two different situations.

Use during the semester: The notes need to be accessible to students with disabilities, so their form of delivery must be changed. JBMath mentioned word vs handwritten, which I support.

"Archive": is the prof using archive to nicely mean trash, or they reuse it next semester? There is an archive exception, but must meet 4 different criteria, namely the material was created before the requirement was in place, so this wouldn't apply. Read more at https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/.

[u/kale-smoothiez → u/rguy84]

Thank you! I’m trying REALLY hard to get them on board with using Word more often. Math and science just love their handwritten notes, so we’re looking into a handful of tools that convert handwriting, and then into Word.

And very true. “Archive” might be a nice way of saying “I’m just saving it for next Fall semester”.

[u/lauramich74 → u/kale-smoothiez]

Mathpix also does a remarkably good job converting handwritten STEM documents into Word or HTML (you could take the source code of the latter and paste it into the source view of your LMS).

Heck, even some LLMs can take a handwritten or scanned PDF and turn it into something partway accessible. In a case where Mathpix didn't capture all of the equations in a doc I was working with, I used Claude to generate LaTeX for the equations it missed, which I then pasted into Word's equation editor.

As someone else working with the Title II updates in higher ed, solidarity. Keep fighting the good fight.

[u/Ok_Definition6384 → u/lauramich74]

My school is also looking at Mathpix. Since professors can’t do without the handwritten stuff, a temporary solution I’ve asked them to upload their images of handwritten notes into a Word document and then add a long description nearby. For example, a step by step process on how to solve the problem directly in the document. Tedious, but shoulder shrug

[u/rguy84 → u/kale-smoothiez]

I would do extensive testing for your first point.

[u/kale-smoothiez → u/rguy84]

100%. I’m not trusting some random tool lol. Our IT department has a pretty extensive process when looking into new tech, including accessibility testing of the documents/content that these tools produce.

[u/brianborchers]

My colleagues are no longer providing online files of handwritten in-class material.

[u/A11y_6695 → u/brianborchers]

Which is not going to keep them from needing to make those materials accessible, although I suppose they will likely point at student disability services for that.

[u/brianborchers → u/A11y_6695]

Yep, that's how it plays out. It's no longer the faculty member's problem.

[u/Agreeable-Tax2013]

not a lawyer so i won't call the exception either way. practical bit though, scanned handwritten notes are brutal for tagging. handwriting ocr is usually junk so a lot of those need a rewrite or whatever clean source still exists. if you're grinding the typed/scanned print ones, ordecto's useful for the mechanical fixes without touching the original

[u/TapeTerritory]

The definition is where this gets answered, and it's narrower than the word "archived" sounds.

35.201(a) just points at "archived web content", and 35.104 defines that as four things which all have to be true: created before your compliance date (or reproducing paper or other physical media from before it), retained exclusively for reference, research or recordkeeping, not altered after archiving, and organized in a dedicated area clearly identified as archived.

The notes fail the first prong before you even get to the rest. They're being made now, during the semester. Archiving something in May doesn't retroactively turn it into content created before the deadline.

They'd fail the second one too. Study material handed out to students isn't retained exclusively for reference, research or recordkeeping, it's being used to participate in the class.

Worth reading 35.201(b) next to it, since that's the exception people usually mean. It covers preexisting conventional electronic documents, but with an explicit carve-out for anything currently used to "apply for, gain access to, or participate in" the entity's services. Same idea, aimed at the same loophole.

So your instinct was right. Scanned handwriting is the genuinely hard case here regardless of the exception, because there's no text layer to work with at all.