- From: David Poehlman <poehlman1@comcast.net>
- Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 19:45:11 -0500
- To: wai-ig list <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
University of Iowa Accessibility Policy for Web Resources The University of Iowa Search ITS ITS Home UI Home ITS Logo CIO Office Building an IT Community About Us Contact Us University of Iowa DRAFT Accessibility Policy for Web Resources Policy #: Date: Issued: 10/29/02 Date: Reviewed/Revised Purpose The University of Iowa is committed to providing equal access to information, programs, and activities through its technology and web pages, services and resources. Fulfilling this promise is critical because the Internet is fast becoming the central nervous system of university life. When properly designed, web pages facilitate an inclusive environment and culture, and enhance learning, teaching, research, scholarship, creativity, and public service and outreach. When improperly designed, without regard for the needs and abilities of our diverse community, web pages may become barriers and undermine each of those activities. A comprehensive, formal web accessibility policy is the key to ensuring that web resources are accessible, usable, understandable, and navigable. It signifies that the University of Iowa values all of its members and provides tangible proof of the university's commitment to empowering people and promoting their independence. This policy establishes minimum standards for achieving these goals in a manner that preserves the freedom of designers and developers to craft cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, well-designed pages, resources, and services. Making all university-related web sites accessible will not be the work of a day, nor of a month. But as a university, our prime responsibility is to provide equal access to education. This is true for the web resources we provide, in the same way it is true for all other components of the learning environment that we, with justifiable pride, cherish and support. As a university, we also have a responsibility to provide state of the art education. Working with universally designed, fully accessible web resources, whether as their creators or as their users, offers a unique learning opportunity to all members of our university community. For both of these reasons, departments should be highly motivated to meet and even exceed -- in their daily operations, activities, and training -- the standards described in the policy below. Definitions Web resources include, but are not limited to, all Internet and Intranet web pages, services, sites, distance learning or education, and WebCt, Blackboard or other course management systems, whether current, active, or archived. Accessible web resources are those that fully comply with the guidelines and standards listed in the attachment to this policy. An alternative representation or alternative means is a format or publication of web content that communicates the same information or data in a timely manner. Undue burden means significant difficulty or expense in creating, modifying or publishing web resources. In determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, a department or unit shall consider all resources available to it, as well as the technical difficulty involved in complying with the policy standards. Legacy web resources are those pages, resources, or services created prior to the effective date of this policy. Scope This policy applies to new or revised web resources published by or hosted by the University of Iowa. It applies to web resources published both before and after the effective date of this policy. Policy 1. Standards For Web Resources University web resources are to be created and maintained with a focus on performance, ease of navigation, visual appeal, accessibility, and understandability. They should follow the standards and design guidelines described in the " Design" section of the ITS Web Accessibility Resources site, unless they qualify for an exception to the policy standards, as described in section five (5)." These standards should be considered the minimum standards and departments are encouraged to deploy and redesign web pages, resources, and services that provide for greater accessibility and ease of use than is required by this policy. 2. New Web Resources New web resources should be developed to be to meet or exceed policy standards at the time of their publication. 3. Updating Existing Web Resources Each department or unit is to establish priorities and timetables for updating its legacy (existing) web resources to meet or exceed policy standards. The university recommends that legacy web resources be updated according to the following priorities: A. Specific requests by individuals with disabilities for access to specific web resources shall be honored in a timely fashion, either by revising the site to make the content accessible or by providing an equally effective alternative. The department or unit responsible for the creation of the content is responsible for honoring the request. B. Web resources that prominently represent the university and key public entry points, including, for example, the university and departmental home page, admissions, catalogs, registration, course work, library resources and services, human resources, administration, advising, and student services information. C. The top 20% of web resources most frequently used (those that receive the largest number of hits). D. 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%. E. Web resources in archive status (e.g., no longer in use but subject to records retention plans) containing core administrative or academic information, official records, and similar information. 4. Contact Information All university web resources must contain a statement referring to accessibility, and an accessible link a visitor can use to contact a person, preferably the web page developer, with questions, comments, and accessibility concerns. For example, "The [name of department or unit] is committed to making its websites accessible to all users and welcomes comments or suggestions on access improvements. Please send comments or suggestions on accessibility to [name of person to contact]," Each of these pages should also include the date the resource was published and updated. 5. Exceptions to the Policy Standards There will be times when departments and units are unable to meet or comply with policy standards. Exceptions to policy are permitted only when full compliance would impose an "undue burden" because of significant administrative or financial difficulty and expense, laws or regulations that prohibit compliance, or technical infeasibility. In determining whether full compliance poses an undue burden, a departments 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 that an undue burden exists that precludes full compliance, however, it must provide the content through comparable alternative means of access. 6. Alternative Means of Access When full compliance with this policy is excused because of an undue burden, the department or unit must provide a comparable alternative means of access that is equally effective. Text-only pages are to be used only when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. Alternative means may include, but are not limited to, voice, fax, relay service, TTY, captioning, text-to-speech synthesis, audio description, Internet posting and hard copy. Information may also be provided in alternate formats such as Braille, ASCII text, large print, recorded audio and electronic formats that comply with this policy, depending on the needs, abilities and preferences of the person with a disability. 7. Faculty Notice to Students Faculty members need to discuss any accessibility issues related to cour ses that include web components with their students. Faculty should consider accessibility for registration materials, course descriptions, syllabi, and other course materials. They need to alert students if online course elements make use of inaccessible graphical user interfaces, interactive screens, visualization tools, or audio material to communicate essential information. If a student with disabilities discovers that such elements are used, the student should consult with faculty, their advisor, or others for guidance before registering for the course, and as needed as the course proceeds. 8. Disputes and Grievances When a person with a disability cannot access online material, they should contact the person responsible for accessibility identified in section four (4). If the contact person does not provide a satisfactory response, the person with a disability can contact the department's technology staff or the offices listed below. Information about filing grievances and complaints can be obtained at any time from: Office of Student Disability Services 319-335-1462 Faculty & Staff Services 319-335-2085 Faculty & Staff Disability Services 319-335-0052 (voice) Faculty & Staff Disability Services 319-335-3495 (TTY) Office of Affirmative Action 319-335-0705 (voice) Office of Affirmative Action 319-335-0697 (text) University Ombudsperson 319-335-3608 Employee and Labor Relations 319-335-0052 Related Policies University of Iowa Information Technology policies and procedures contain acceptable use, security, networking, administrative, and academic policies that have been developed to supplement and clarify University of Iowa policy. They are incorporated by reference into the University of Iowa Operations Manual (http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/index.html), in accordance with the Policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources (http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/ii/19.htm). Copyright © The University of Iowa. All rights reserved. Last updated: November 25, 2002 Contact Information: its-webmaster@uiowa.edu Search provided courtesy of Google.com Gil Vickery Granite State Independent Living North Country Satellite Office P.O. Box 895 Franconia, NH 03580 1-800-588-5772 (V-TTY) (603) 823-5402 (FAX) ncgsil@ncia.net (E-mail) www.gsil.org
Received on Friday, 3 January 2003 19:45:53 UTC