Approved 10/31/2011 by UI Vice Presidents Group

UI Web Accessibility Policy

The Policy The University of Iowa is committed to providing equal access to information, programs, and activities delivered through its official web resources. Official UI web resources include all web sites, web applications, and media delivered through the web used to conduct university business or academic activities. They include web resources purchased or delivered by outside vendors as well as those created on campus. They do not include personal resources published by students, employees or resources for non-university organizations that are hosted on campus but are not used to conduct university business or academic activities.

UI official web resources are to be designed and maintained in accordance with the standards defined in appendix A, UI Accessibility Standards and Resources. (The initial standard is the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Level AA. See http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility.)

Implementation The effective date of this policy is November 1, 2011. After that date, all new web sites, new applications, or revisions to existing sites or applications are subject to this policy. Each unit managing web resources is expected to assess its current resources and make a plan for replacing or remediating existing web resources that don’t meet accessibility standards. Existing resources should be updated according to the following schedule:

1. As required by accommodation requests. (University personnel should currently be considering modifications pursuant to accommodation requests. Please contact Student Disability Services or Faculty and Staff Disability Services for assistance in responding to such requests.)

2. At least the top 20% most active non-compliant resources should be replaced or remediated annually.

3. Special focus on web resources required for participation, funding, disability-related services, and other key pages needed by people with disabilities, if those pages are not among the top 20% most active.

Contact Information All University web resources must contain an accessible link a visitor with an accessibility concern can use to contact someone responsible for the resource. Resources should also include the date the resource was published and updated. Exceptions to the Policy Exceptions to the policy are permitted only when full compliance would impose an “undue burden.” In determining whether full compliance poses an undue burden, a department or unit must consider all resources available to it as well as the technical difficulty involved in complying with policy standards. A department or unit can depart from the policy only when it determines and documents to the ADA Compliance Officer that an undue burden exists that precludes full compliance; however, it must provide the content through comparable alternative means of access.

Complaints Address complaints to the ADA Compliance Officer in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.

Violations UI web resources in violation will be referred to the UI Web Accessibility Technical Standards Committee by the ADA Compliance Officer for assistance with remediation or replacement. Remediation may include removal until compliant with this policy.

Maintenance of policy This policy is maintained jointly by the offices of the Vice President for Strategic Communication and the Chief Information Officer. It is published on the IT Policy page, http://itsecurity.uiowa.edu/policy/.

Resources

Learn more about WCAG 2.0 standards http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility - the official definitions of WCAG 2.0 AA http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist -- an unofficial guide in checklist format

Tools for testing websites Firefox accessibility plug-ins: WAVE Toolbar, Accessibility Evaluation Toolbar, Fangs, Juicy Studio Accessibility Toolbar (search at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/)

Firefox developer plug-ins: Web Developer 1.2.5 by Chris Pederick, Firebug (same source)

On-line tests: http://wave.webaim.org/ and http://fae.cita.illinois.edu/

Support services Todd Weissenberger ([email protected] , 384-3323) provides consulting, training, and assessments using Compliance Sheriff, an enterprise evaluation tool. Mark Hale ([email protected], 335-5825) provides consulting, advice on policy and strategy, and training. UI web resources are at the URL http://itaccessiblity.uiowa.edu

Useful university sites: accessibility.psu.edu, itaccessibility.umn.edu, http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/ http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/