Editing Herzing Issues: ADA and Disability Accommodations (section)

=== HU-022: Student was told at enrollment that screen reader accommodation was not needed because all modules were WCAG compliant; representation was false ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| High
! Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Institutional Misrepresentation
! Date added
| 2026-04-30
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | ADA Coordinator / Enrollment / Academic Affairs
|}
'''Finding.''' The student was told at enrollment that a screen reader accommodation was not needed because all modules were WCAG compliant; per the tracker's evidence, the representation was false.

'''Evidence.''' Student email (2026-04-07): "I actually brought this up at the beginning of the semester last semester regarding the use of a screen reader and was told that I did not need an accommodation for that as the courses were already compliant." Dr. Soles response (2026-04-07): "I do not have anything about a screen reader in your accommodations."

'''Reported statement.'''
<blockquote>There's an assumption that the courses are already compliant and that they follow the law. There's typically not a need for that accommodation because you don't need an accommodation to use screen reading software unless a professor puts something in a photograph that is unreadable by the screen reading software.</blockquote>

'''Standards.''' ADA interactive process obligations; promissory reliance doctrine; institutional duty of honest representation to students. If the university represented that no formal accommodation was needed because of existing WCAG compliance, and that representation was false, the student was deprived of the opportunity to request and document a formal screen reader accommodation.

'''Impact.''' Because the student relied on the university's representation of WCAG compliance, no formal screen reader accommodation was requested. When the module proved non-compliant, faculty had no record of the accommodation, and the student faced a catch-22: no documented accommodation, yet the university had represented one was unnecessary.

'''Notes.''' This represents a systemic institutional failure: misrepresenting accessibility compliance to a student who then suffered academically as a direct result.

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