A Message from our CEO
Vista Higher Learning was founded to raise the teaching of languages to a higher level. Our dedicated teams are committed to developing and refining our products and services to meet the diverse needs of all language learners.
We do this by prioritizing both accessibility and usability as foundational pillars of our development process, ensuring that every learner can engage meaningfully and effectively.
—Jon Aram, CEO, Vista Higher Learning
How does Vista Higher Learning approach accessibility?
- Accessibility is a pillar of our product development process. From product requirements through design, implementation, and testing, we develop software and content to meet accessibility standards.
- Accessibility is a core commitment across our organization. Since 2018, our Accessibility Cross-Functional Team comprising leaders from technology, editorial, and production, has met monthly to advance best practices, resolve challenges, and ensure our products meet the highest standards of inclusive design.
- Accessibility compliance across all our educational materials is our goal. With an external partner, we complete an annual VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) that results in an updated ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report). The results help us identify and prioritize work and learn about new areas of compliance. The learning is then integrated into our product development process.
Digital Materials
Vista Higher Learning (VHL) uses the standards established in Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) and W3C (WCAG 2.2 AA) guidelines to evaluate
and improve its digital products.
VHL maintains an ACR for its online products. The ACR is available to administrators via Technical Support.
VHL partners with Tetralogical, a company that specializes in accessibility strategy, training, and assessment, for our training, VPAT testing, and ACR updates.
Printed Materials
Accessible print materials are available on request at no charge through the following sources:
Technical Support
Our Technical Support team receives requests from [replace official with authorized?] official accessibility department staff and qualified educators on behalf of a student.
Technical Support can provide:
- Low resolution PDF (for most materials)
- DocX (alt text or Word) files
- PDF (tagged) and/or ePub files.
Additionally, Technical Support escalates issues for review and remediation to the appropriate Vista Higher Learning team. Platform accessibility issues are reviewed by Product Management, who identifies core accessibility items to address in our product roadmap. Program-specific content accessibility issues are reviewed by our Editorial team as each title comes up for revision.
For more details on this process, contact Technical Support.
AccessText
A nonprofit organization founded and funded by the Association of American Publishers. Member schools use the online interface to easily request publisher files for qualified students. Titles already in the archive can be downloaded instantly, and membership is free for institutions.
Requests for files, or membership in AccessText, can be made through the web site at: http://accesstext.org.
NOTE: AccessText serves only Higher Education students and institutions.
Accessible Textbook Finder
Part of the AccessText Network, ATF allows ISBN searches across multiple vendors and organizations that provide and create accessible files. Search results provide links to each file source.
Search the ATF at https://accesstext.org/accessible-textbook-finder.
Learning Ally (formerly Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic)
Provides audiobooks and assistive technologies to help students learn in the classroom.
Requests can be made by contacting Learning Ally at 800.221.4792 or via their web site at https://www.learningally.org.
NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Access Center)
Federally funded, national electronic file repository that makes National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)-conformant files available for the production of core print instructional materials in specialized formats. NIMAC makes these files available for download to Authorized Users in the United States and its territories through an online database.
Visit NIMAC at https://www.nimac.us.
Files can be used to create a variety of specialized formats, such as braille, audio, or digital text, on behalf of qualifying blind, visually-impaired or print- disabled students in elementary or secondary school.
NOTE: NIMAC serves only primary and secondary students and institutions.
Aira
Vista Higher Learning partners with Aira, a company that maintains a network of trained, professional agents to remotely assist people who are blind or low vision with virtually any task, every day. Aira support for blind or low vision students accessing our digital learning materials can be requested using the form below.
Visit Aira at https://aira.io.
Want to learn more?
We welcome your questions, feedback, or requests regarding our accessibility commitment and available resources. To learn more:
- Check out our Accessibility FAǪ on the Support Center.
- Submit our Accessibility Request Form.
- Email us at [email protected].
- Call us at 800.922.6003.