[Athen] Pearson MYLab for I.T. -- is this thing accessible?

[Deborah Armstrong]

One of my blind students who takes online courses just purchased

                MyLab IT with Pearson eText -- Access Card -- for GO! with Office 2016


>From VitalSource because he believed their marketing about how accessible they are.


Pearson's product page is here:

                https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Gaskin-My-Lab-IT-with-Pearson-e-Text-Access-Card-for-GO-with-Office-2016/9780134497914.html

He didn't rent it, he bought the ebook along with the access to the accompanying MyLab. He paid their full price.

The student says The book is full of images. Learning Ally has the previous edition with all images described, but it was part of a series named "GO" and not "For Go" and was not connected with the MyLab product, so I'm not sure if that's going to help him. I downloaded and listened to the Learning Ally edition; it's a very visual way of teaching.

Office 2013 and 2016 are close enough that it shouldn't be a problem for a beginner, but I see a host of issues here:


1.       These textbooks typically have you clicking everywhere, rarely employing keystrokes. You're supposed to make your screen match the one pictured.


2.       The Mylab we've seen for accounting and math wasn't that accessible. Can the one for I.T. be much different?

I'm not sure what my responsibility is here. I can scream that the curriculum isn't accessible, but who would I talk to - it's an online course taught by an adjunct instructor.  I should at least try to get the student a refund, but I only suspect it's inaccessible now from previous experience; I'm not positive. And I do not have a way to describe the multiplicity of images in the book, even if I did have a print edition.

I am aware of Benetech's diagram project but it's not set up to describe images in an entire textbook on short notice.
I'm getting tired of these for-proffit vendors who claim their products are accessible when they are not.

Have any of you seen this textbook and have thoughts about how I should proceed?

--Debee
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