The purpose of the Accessible Media & Technology (AcMe) program in the Office of Disability Services (ODS) is to implement accommodations for students needing various types of accessible formats.  AcMe produces these formats, coordinating with students and faculty as needed.  Faculty are never asked to make alternative formats, although we welcome and encourage faculty interest in making their course content more accessible. ODS’s Keep C.A.L.M. (Choosing Accessible Learning Materials) content is a great place to start.

If you have questions after reading the following information, we welcome you to make an appointment for an AcMe consultation by calling 540-568-6705 or email disability-svcs@jmu.edu.

For background information regarding higher education’s obligations under Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please reference the U.S. Department of Education document, Auxiliary Aids and Services for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities.

Audiobooks and eText Accommodations

Students work directly with AcMe to request electronic text and audiobooks and to locate needed materials.  Faculty are not required to create or provide alternative formats.  In the unusual instance that AcMe needs to request assistance from the faculty member for this accommodation, we will reach out to you. 

Faculty members should select and announce textbooks for classes in advance to allow students and AcMe time to locate the necessary digital version.  

JMU’s Policy 2110  (rev. Oct. 2024) does require that faculty should place textbook orders with the JMU Bookstore “by the second week in October for the spring semester, by the second week in March for the May and summer sessions, and by the first week in April for the fall semester.”  

If you are interested in learning more about electronic text and incorporating this accessibility tool into your classes, please visit the Keep C.A.L.M. and Select eText  page and explore the Document Accessibility Guides on the  JMU Digital Accessibility site.

Hearing Impairment Accommodations 

Captioning/Transcription

AcMe encourages faculty to use captioned videos and transcribed audio recordings whenever possible. Doing so has many benefits that extend beyond access for people with hearing and/or auditory impairments.

When you have a student with captioning accommodations in your class, you will need to work with AcMe to ensure that all video and audio materials are captioned or transcribed. AcMe will handle any captioning or transcription for classes in which a student with an ODS-approved accommodation is enrolled. 

For more information about the captioning accommodation process, please visit our  Captioning Roles, Responsibilities, & FAQs page.

To learn more about captioning in the context of proactive digital accessibility (including in-depth captioning guides, how to find media with accurate captions, and more), please visit the How to Caption at JMU guides on the JMU Digital Accessibility website.

Assistive Listening Devices & FM Systems

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are personal microphone-receiver devices. An instructor/speaker is handed a wearable microphone and its audio feed is transmitted to the student’s receiver/hearing aid/cochlear implant. This can eliminate background noise and amplify a speaker’s voice for the student.

A student with an ODS-approved accommodation for an ALD may choose to use this accommodation in all class sessions or only in particular contexts. The student will show you any necessary controls.

Please note that most ALD microphones have a mute button. This allows the speaker wearing the microphone to have private conversations without turning off or taking off the microphone.

CART & Live Captioning

Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART), often referred to as live captioning, is a service in which a stenographer listens to a lecture, discussion, etc. and types up everything that is being said. The transcript that is created is displayed in real time to the student on a personal device.

A student with an ODS-approved accommodation for CART/live captioning may choose to use this accommodation in all class sessions or only in particular contexts. If a student chooses to use this accommodation in your class, you will receive an email from ods-cart@jmu.edu with more information and next steps.

Please note that faculty are never responsible for providing CART/live captioning services for an ODS-approved academic accommodation. Faculty will need to collaborate with AcMe to effectively implement these services into their classrooms.

American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting

A student with an ODS-approved accommodation for ASL interpreting may choose to use this accommodation in all class sessions or only in particular contexts. If a student chooses to use this accommodation in your class, you will receive an email from odsinterpreting@jmu.edu with more information and next steps.

Please note that faculty are never responsible for providing ASL interpreters for an ODS-approved academic accommodation. Faculty will need to collaborate with AcMe to effectively implement these services into their classrooms.

Visual Impairment Accommodations

The types and quantity of alternative formats required by students with visual impairments can vary significantly.  Some students may need only limited course-content conversion by AcMe and little faculty involvement.  When a student with a visual impairment requires materials that need a greater level of coordination, we may request a meeting with you and/or request course materials in advance. Please do not be nervous; we are not asking you to convert all of your own class materials! Our program area within ODS takes care of document conversion.  

In our meeting, we may ask about the unique format of your course, the types of content that you use, and how you interact with your students. This knowledge will allow us to better plan for the semester.  We can also help answer questions and consider accommodations-specific course nuances if needed. 

Due to the time required to convert certain materials into accessible formats, we may need to ask that you provide us with your course content in advance of when you plan to actually present it in class. We recognize that this is sometimes an imposition, but please know that we are here to work with you and to be your partners in making your course a welcoming and accessible environment for all of your students. 

For more information about visual impairment alternative format accommodations, please visit our Visual Impairment Accessible Media Production Faculty Roles, Procedures & FAQs page.

If you are interested in producing materials that will be accessible to students with disabilities, please explore the Document Accessibility Guides on the JMU Digital Accessibility site and visit our Keep C.A.L.M. webpages.

Subjects of particular importance to those with visual disabilities include the following:

• Check Contrast
• Describe Images
• Select Electronic Text
• Accessible Word Documents