Digital Accessibility and Accessible Educational Materials
Cynthia Curry
About Cynthia Curry
Cynthia Curry is the Project Director of the National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials and Instruction (NCADEMI) at Utah State University’s Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice. Pronounced “n-cademy,” the center is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and focuses on ensuring students with disabilities from PreK through high school graduation receive accessible digital and print educational materials. Curry began her career as a secondary science teacher before spending more than two decades in state, regional, and national technical assistance roles related to digital accessibility. Her career has included work with the Maine Department of Education, Maine CITE (the state’s AT Act Program), the University of Southern Maine, the University of New England, and CAST. At Maine CITE, she led training and technical assistance on the statewide OSEP-funded implementation of the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard. At the University of Southern Maine, she directed an OSEP 325T personnel prep project titled "Transforming Teaching through Collaborative Teacher Education." At CAST, she provided leadership to two OSEP-funded national TA centers focused on accessible educational materials and inclusive technology systems.
The problem highlighted in this brief
Students with disabilities continue to encounter barriers in both digital and print educational materials across PreK–12 settings. Despite legal requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), schools frequently lack the systems, procurement practices, and educator preparation needed to ensure that accessible materials consistently reach students. The challenge is not limited to any specific category of content: teacher-created materials, supplemental resources, and vendor-supplied products each introduce potential barriers when accessibility is not embedded from the start. At the same time, the rapid growth of educational technology, including AI-powered tools, has introduced a new generation of products whose developers may not understand their accessibility obligations. Students who use assistive technology depend on these systems working together seamlessly, and any gap in accessibility can disrupt access to learning.
Why does this topic matter to teacher preparation?
Teacher preparation programs have historically given limited attention to digital accessibility and accessible educational materials. Most educators enter the field without formal training in evaluating, selecting, or creating accessible content, and without an understanding of how assistive technology interacts with classroom materials. As schools increasingly deploy digital learning environments, these gaps translate directly into inequitable access for students with disabilities. Preparing future teachers and administrators to approach accessibility as a standard dimension of quality instruction, rather than a specialized or technical responsibility, requires programs to embed accessibility principles across the curriculum. Leadership preparation programs carry an equal responsibility: administrators who do not understand accessibility cannot make sound procurement decisions, set meaningful expectations, or sustain systemic change.
About This Brief
This brief explores what digital accessibility means in practice, why it matters for students with disabilities, and what teacher preparation programs and school leaders can do to build educator capacity in this area. Drawing on Cynthia Curry’s decades of experience and her current leadership of NCADEMI, the brief highlights the most pressing challenges schools face, the opportunity to embed accessibility into existing instructional initiatives, and practical resources that educators and preparation programs can use to get started.
Research and Practice Context
Digital Accessibility as a Foundation for Inclusive Learning
Digital accessibility refers to the degree to which digital content and tools can be used by all individuals, including those who rely on assistive technology. In educational settings, accessible educational materials (AEM) include both digitally produced content and print materials converted into accessible formats such as audio, braille, or large print. Despite the availability of standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and legal frameworks including Section 508 and the ADA, many schools continue to deploy materials and technologies without adequate accessibility review. A new ADA Title II rule requires state and local government entities, including public schools, to bring their websites and mobile applications into compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards by 2027 or 2028, depending on the size of the entity, creating new urgency for school districts and preparation programs to act.
The following key insights were shared by Cynthia Curry during her interview with CIDDL. The conversation focused on six questions about digital accessibility, educator preparation, and systems-level approaches.
Conversation with Cynthia Curry
Q1: Can you introduce yourself and describe the work you are currently doing through NCADEMI?
NCADEMI supports state education agencies and school districts in developing systems to address barriers embedded in both digital and print materials. The Center addresses materials across all points of production and selection, including teacher-created and -selected materials, vendor-supplied content, and procurement decisions. Curry notes the Center does not produce materials directly: its role is to strengthen the practices and decision-making of those who do.
Cynthia Curry: "I’m the current project director of NCADEMI … the National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials and Instruction... our primary role is to ensure that students with disabilities from PreK through high school graduation receive accessible digital educational materials."
Curry traces her entry into the field to a chance encounter with a -Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3)-funded project in 2000, during which she worked alongside individuals with disabilities who used assistive technology. A personal dimension also shaped her path: her sister was born with multiple disabilities before the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, and attended school only after protections were in place. Curry reflects, “I was going to school but she wasn’t.”
Among the challenges Curry identifies most frequently in schools: a lack of embedded expectations around accessibility, siloed responsibility where accessibility is seen as someone else’s task, and insufficient integration of accessibility into material selection and creation processes. These barriers compound across the system from the classroom to the district level.
Cynthia Curry: "I realized I wasn’t prepared to teach all students... and I think that had an impact on me I didn’t realize until later on."
Q3: What should special education teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders understand about digital accessibility and accessible educational materials?
Curry’s central message is one of accessibility: the field of digital accessibility is learnable. The most important shift for leadership is to make accessibility an expectation embedded in existing initiatives, rather than a standalone compliance task. She recommends weaving accessibility into the conversations already happening around high-quality instructional materials, assessment practices, supplemental resource selection, and professional learning for teachers who create their own digital content.
Her advice for teachers: when selecting supplemental materials, understand what sources are appropriate and what indicators signal accessibility. When creating materials, build accessibility in from the beginning. “In those conversations with teachers about where they find resources, understanding what to look for when it comes to digital accessibility... and of course creating materials — embed those steps required to ensure accessibility from the beginning.”
Cynthia Curry: "It takes some training and it takes some practice but it’s not unknowable."
Q4: Where do you see the field of digital accessibility going as technology continues to evolve?
Curry acknowledges concern about the pace of change but draws on a long view of the field. She notes accessibility has been a consideration through prior technology shifts, from the emergence of the web to hardware, augmented reality, and virtual reality. Larger vendors in education and mainstream commercial spaces have increasingly made accessibility a priority, motivated by both legal obligation and public reputation.
Her primary concern is the growth of smaller startups producing AI-powered tools, many of whom may not understand accessibility requirements or how their products interact with assistive technology. “I think we’ll see more and more of those as AI continues to emerge.” The implication for schools is clear: procurement processes must include accessibility review, and educators must know what questions to ask.
Cynthia Curry: "I worry more about startups and smaller vendors that may not be aware of their obligations."
Q5: What should teacher preparation programs and educational leaders prioritize in building capacity around accessibility and assistive technology?
NCADEMI offers a targeted technical assistance program for teacher and administrator preparation programs through a community of practice called Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility. The Center is also partnering with Teach Access, an organization with a ten-year model for embedding accessibility instruction in higher education, to adapt this approach specifically for teacher and administrator education programs.
Curry recommends programs resist treating accessibility as a separate module or add-on. Instead, accessibility principles should be embedded organically within existing courses. In a content methods course, this might mean asking how math notation can be made accessible to all students, or how complex concepts can be conveyed in plain language through digital materials. In educational leadership preparation, it means preparing future administrators to ask the right questions of vendors and publishers, to understand what accessibility conformance reports say, and to make procurement decisions informed by accessibility evidence.
Cynthia Curry: "Not force-fitting or trying to fit accessibility... but just naturally, if you’re thinking about good teaching."
Q6: What tools and resources does NCADEMI offer for those who want to learn more?
NCADEMI’s primary resource hub is available at ncademi.org. Key resources include:
Accessibility Fundamentals Course: Nine core accessibility skills applicable to anyone creating digital content, with additional tool guides being added regularly.
EdTech Directory Approximately 50 products with publicly available accessibility information, accompanied by guidance on how to interpret accessibility conformance reports and what questions to ask vendors.
Resources and References
f you are interested in learning more, please check out these other resources:
- Targeted Technical Assistance for Educator Preparation Programs
- Accessibility Basics
- ADA Title II Roadmap for State and Local Educational Agencies
- Including Accessibility in All Components of Procurement: A Guide for State Educational Agencies and School Districts
- Quality Indicators for the Provision and Use of Accessible Materials in PreK-12 Systems
Suggested Citation
Garza, P., Curry, C., & the CIDDL Team. (2026). Digital Accessibility and Accessible Educational Materials. The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.