Role
I am the accessibility liaison for our entire unit consisting of 7 university-wide offices, 7 interdisciplinary institutes, and various departments—all of which have their individual websites. I was managing, designing, and developing this Accessibility Guide project.
Analysis
The Problem
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires all Federal government entities to provide accessible formats to the information they provide on their websites and online course work. This university also has its own strict policy in regards to web accessibility. Our office has several units that house their websites under our website and we need to ensure that the information is accessible and meets WCAG guidelines. Our office had no process to ensure this.
Design
In addition to providing in-person training so the various web developers could learn about the importance of accessibility as well as how to incorporate accessibility into building their websites, audits of the websites were necessary to ensure compliance.
I designed the audit in a document format that could be individualized for each office on an annual basis. I focused on designing the document such that:
- It was easy for users to navigate by having clear headings and tasks.
- Highlighting issues that should be prioritized in getting immediate attention.
- Provided just enough information to not overwhelm a user with lots of information, but also to help them be aware of how to both resolve the problem if they didn’t already know how, and to help them understand the reason that particular issue is necessary to address. I accomplished this by providing direct, noticeable, links to how to resolve the issue.
Development
Once I had a rough draft of the Accessibility Guide, I reached out to the team at the university’s Accessibility Office and asked them for feedback in regards to the content and approach I was taking. They were impressed with the thoroughness of the document and provided some additional feedback on what may be prioritized specifically at the university.
I then developed it in MS Word and provide it as an interactive, accessible PDF document for each individual office.
Evaluation
This project helped ensure that our large unit at an R1 university is complying to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. It was productive to learn directly from the Accessibility Office who provide this kind of service on a daily basis and learn their processes. The document ensures that we are in compliance with Federal and University policies and provides a consistent approach on an annual basis. The audits helped our websites reach WCAG2.1 AA compliance.
Challenges
Web accessibility was a new concept to me and I had a lot to learn about the policies, the standards that needed to be met, and how to actually meet those web standards. I really had to delve into learning about this niche in web development and web design to the best of my ability; ensuring equal access to information is so important so I took it seriously. This led me to interning as a staff member in the university’s Accessibility Office where I had the opportunity expand my skills in accessibility and be involved in testing and auditing.