Law / United States / 
Wisconsin
Wisconsin publisher duty to provide postsecondary instructional material in alternative or electronic format for students with disabilities
In force.
An accessibility requirements rule binding private bodies.
What it requires
- If you are a publisher of instructional material for postsecondary instruction (a person in the business of selling it who owns or controls some or all of the copyright, other than a member of a nationwide exchange network that delivers the material to the student in alternative format within 7 working days after the request), designate an office or employee to handle requests from institutions of higher education, and give that contact information to the persons who make the requests, by posting it on your Internet site or in writing (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(1)(f) and (3)(f)).
- Within 7 days after receipt of a request made on behalf of a student with a disability, give the requester written notice of the action you intend to take (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(3)(b)).
- In response to the request, do one of the following: provide a copy of the material in alternative format, provide access to it in alternative format, provide a copy in electronic format, grant the institution permission to convert it, or, if you do not own or control the copyright, name the person able to fulfill the request (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(3)(a)).
- Provide the electronic format no later than 7 days after your notice, and the alternative format or access to it no later than 14 days after your notice (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(3)(c)).
- Make the alternative or electronic format maintain the structural integrity of the original material to the extent possible, be compatible with an assistive technology suitable for the student's needs, and include corrections and revisions that have been generally published (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(3)(d)).
- You are not required to incur an investment you cannot reasonably recoup, and you may condition a first digital version on payment of reasonable compensation for the expense of creating it (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(3)(g)).
- You may require the request to be accompanied by a statement signed by the student, or a minor student's parent, guardian or legal custodian, agreeing to use the material in alternative format solely for the student's own educational purposes and not to copy or distribute it for use by others, and you may inspect, or receive copies of, the institution's records that a standard-format copy was purchased for each student (Wis. Stat. sec. 106.57(2)(b)1. and (c)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What this law does
A publisher of instructional material for postsecondary instruction must respond to a request from an institution of higher education, made on behalf of a student with a disability, for the material in alternative format or electronic format.
The publisher may provide a copy in alternative format, provide access to it in alternative format, provide a copy in electronic format, grant the institution permission to convert the material, or, where it does not own or control the copyright, name the person able to fulfill the request. Within 7 days after receipt of a request, the publisher must give written notice of the action it intends to take.
A publisher that gives notice that it will provide a copy in electronic format must do so no later than 7 days after the notice. A publisher that gives notice that it will provide an alternative format or access to one must do so no later than 14 days after the notice. Material provided in alternative or electronic format must, to the extent possible, maintain the structural integrity of the original instructional material.
Material provided in alternative or electronic format must be compatible with an assistive technology suitable for the needs of the student with a disability. The institution may not make the request if the material in the format the student needs is commercially available from the publisher. The section does not require a publisher to incur an investment that it cannot reasonably recoup.
A publisher that has not previously produced a digital version may condition its provision on payment of reasonable compensation for the expense of creating the format. An institution of higher education is an institution or college campus within the University of Wisconsin System, a technical college, or a private, nonprofit institution of higher education that is a member of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Instructional material is a textbook or other material written and published in print format primarily for use by students in postsecondary instruction that is required or essential to the student's success in a course. A member of a nationwide exchange network that delivers instructional material in alternative format to students with disabilities is not a publisher if the material is delivered through that network within 7 working days after the request.
The request must certify that a copy of the material in standard format has been purchased for use by the student, by the student or by the institution. A publisher may require the request to be accompanied by a statement signed by the student agreeing to use the material in alternative format solely for the student's own educational purposes and not to copy or distribute it for use by others. The section was created by 2011 Wisconsin Act 124, enacted and published .
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