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The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) announced a “landmark settlement” with Harvard University that institutes a series of new guidelines to make the university’s website and online resources accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The settlement is said to represent “the most comprehensive set of online accessibility requirements in higher education and ensures for the first time that Harvard will provide high-quality captioning services for online content.” The settlement expands upon Harvard’s new digital accessibility policy, which was announced in May. Harvard must provide captions for all online resources, including school-wide events that are live-streamed, content from department sponsored student organizations, and any new university created audio or video hosted by third-party platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud, according to the announcement. The terms of the settlement are included within a consent decree, which can be enforced by the court. The court must approve the consent decree before it may become effective.
This settlement was reached four years after this litigation began in 2015, when it was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of...