Creating A Web Accessibility Policy
Voices from the field

Diana Ratliff

MU Adaptive Computing Technology Center

Scott Standifer

Region 7 Rehabilitation Continuing Education Program (RCEP7)

Stories from the Field

Ü U of Wisconsin, Madison

• Trey Duffey

• Bob Regan

Ü Texas A&M, College Station

• David Sweeney

Ü MIT, Cambridge

• Kathy Cahill

Ü SW Missouri State

• Sarah Clark

Ü SE Missouri State

• Michelle Elder

Ü Group Discussion

Trey Duffey

Ü Director, McBurney Disability Resource Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Ü 1^st Policy in Early 2001

• Concerned about the increasing IT use in class work

• Subcommittee of ADA Task force developed policy based on WAI Guidelines

Trey Duffey

Ü Policy group had members of many campus groups including IT

Ü Policy approved by Vice Chancellor without widespread attention

Ü Campus reaction did not go well

Trey Duffey

Ü IT folks created a 2^nd committee to write a 2^nd policy

Ü More specific, more suitable to UW situation, more 508-based

Ü Better campus reaction

Trey Duffey

Ü Advice

• Policy useful for awareness, get people talking

• Don’t argue numbers for access. Use institution/state/national commitment, universal design

• Provide pre-made templates

• Easy to use

• Proves not just “text only” pages

Trey Duffey

Ü Advice

• Broad-based support

• Don’t let issue be pegged to disability services office

• Engage the resistors in the process

• Make it an institutional initiative

• IT services needs large presence

• Don’t say accessibility is easy

• Provide follow-up training

• Provide a checklist

Bob Regan

Ü Senior Product Specialist for Accessibility, Macromedia

Ü Doctoral Student at UW

• Doing dissertation on the failure of the first policy

• Feels 1^st policy did more damage than Trey Duffey thinks

Bob Regan

Ü Was providing tech support to faculty at time of the 1^st policy

Ü Several factors involved

• Not enough attention to technical details and implications

• Various political issues

• Too much moral high ground

Bob Regan

Ü Advice

• Build broad coalition of support

• Help people feel safe asking questions

• Don’t single out particular pages for criticism

• Understand people’s confusion

David Sweeney

Ü Program Coordinator, Adaptive Technology Services, Texas A&M

Ü Texas state regulations required accessibility

• Similar uproar as at UW, but on state level

• Revised regs require each school have a policy, accountability

• Still under development at TAMU

David Sweeney

Ü Created “spider” program to check all pages in TAMU system for accessibility

• Provided “scorecard”, benchmark

• Helped define scale of the issue

• Published data “anonymously” without identifying departments

• Commercial version available as WEBXM from Watchfire

David Sweeney

Ü Bob Regan disagrees

Ü Campus reaction
was mixed

Ü Feels assessment is crucial and valuable

• Regulatory requirements in Texas

• Measures progress

• Working on policy, repercussions for non-compliance

David Sweeney

Ü Advice

• Build a broad coalition

• Check on your state regulations

• Get some data to measure scope of issue

• Include accountability in process

• Don’t let it be just a disability services issue

• Provide training & support

Kathy Cahill

Ü Coordinator, Adaptive Technology for Information & Computing (ATIC), MIT

Ü Home of WWWC and WAI

Ü Began policy activity in 1999

Ü Framed as extension of existing ADA policy

Kathy Cahill

Ü Created a policy committee

• Representatives from IT, Library, web services, etc.

• Had a lawyer talk with committee about disability law & student access

Kathy Cahill

Ü Took a public relations approach

• Postcards to staff

• Presentations to web groups

• Monthly lunchtime classes

• Institutional homepage link

• Employee newsletter

Ü Generally positive reaction

• Have been working 4 years

Kathy Cahill

Ü Advice

• Get broad support

• Get informed legal advice

• Specialist on disability law

• Budget for ongoing education and PR

• Try to convince rather than enforce

Sara Clark

Ü Web Coordinator, Southwest Missouri State University

• Web Access Project

Ü Early awareness

• An Assoc. Dean is Blind

• Many students with visual disabilities

Ü Univ. felt policy & workshops not enough

Sara Clark

Ü Reviewing & critiquing each website on campus

• 2 students staff the project

• Contact department first

• Work with designer of each site on

• Interpreting report

• Fixing problems and becoming compliant

• Review again after 6 months

• Also offer workshops, open lab, in-office help

Sara Clark

Ü Started with development, approval, and announcement of formal Web Access Policy

• In 3rd year of 5

• Funded by President’s Office, $20,000/yr

• have reviewed 97% of administrative and departmental websites (284 of 298)

• 68% are now compliant

• Just starting on student organization websites (9) and course websites (88) (Courses in Blackboard not included)

Sara Clark

Ü Review Tools

• Developed ASP spider for basic checkpoints

• Opera Browser with images, CSS turned off

• Diamond Demo Tools - listing of alt tags

• Microsoft Web Developer Accessories- View Partial Source tool

Ü Reports

• Placed online, not password protected but not publicly linked

• Removed after site is compliant

Sara Clark

Ü Advice: Open communication is key

• Non-confrontational

• Plenty of warning about reviews

• Follow-up support

• High level administration endorsement

Ü Creating cohort of student designers familiar w/ accessibility

• Becoming a selling point on resumes for student jobs

Michele Elder

Ü Manager, Web Design, Southeast Missouri State University

• Part of University Relations Office

Ü University had little faith in guidelines and templates

• Based on past experience with style guidelines and templates

• User’s not informed enough to comply

Michele Elder

Ü Chose Content Management System

• Departmental staff can only
change content, not design

• Controls main University page down to departmental pages

• Faculty web pages and individual course pages not included

• Accessibility for those is prominently discussed during web design trainings, in place since 1997

Michele Elder

Ü Part of overall rethinking of university’s web presence

• Reorganizing based on information structure and audience needs

• No longer organized along administrative divisions

• No Admissions Dept. page, No Financial Aid Dept. page, etc. - info embedded in “Future Students” area, “Present Students” area, etc.

• Having to educate staff on
what this means

Michele Elder

Ü New System Changes Workflow

• Content managed through web interface. No need for student web designers

• Every page is reviewed in University Relations for content & technical compliance before posting

• For content updates, system has “track changes” feature

• Alternate formats, style or accessibility changes implemented centrally

• Some faculty interested in using it for personal pages

Michele Elder

Ü Does not replace need for a web accessibility policy. Southeast U. has one

Ü Multiple committees approved web structure & layouts

Ü Faculty web pages not controlled

• Only addressed if there is a complaint

Summary

Ü Build an inclusive policy committee

• Be especially inclusive of enterprise projects (IT services, library, etc.)

• Include resistors in the process

Ü Do not tie policy directly to WAI or 508

• Tailor to campus needs and abilities, using WAI & 508 as reference

Ü Emphasize being proactive

• Research state regulations

• Consult a disability law specialist for perspective

Summary

Ü Provide lots of training, publicity, outreach

• Follow-up with regular, ongoing trainings

• Emphasize it as part of “good web design”, gets easier with experience

Ü Provide templates, FAQs, etc.

Ü Choose level of documentation of effort

• Will vary with state regulations, administration priority, campus politics, etc.

• Possibilities

• Attendance at trainings

• Baseline reviews/samples

• Systemic review / enforcement

• Central control of all design

Accessibility Policy Resources

Ü WebAim

• see “Institutional Coordination & Reform”

• 8 Steps for Institutional Reform

• Review of existing policies

• Webaim Listserv

• webaim.org/discussion/

• Searchable archive

Resources

Ü Examples Used:

• Texas A & M (David Sweeney)

• webaccess.tamu.edu/

• Univ. of Wisconsin (Trey Duffey)

• jumpgate.acadsvcs.wisc.edu/~mcburney/

• MIT (Kathy Cahill)

• web.mit.edu/atic/www/

• Macromedia (Bob Regan)

• www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/

Resources

Ü Examples Used:

• Southwest Missouri State University
(Sara Clark)

• wact.smsu.edu - compliance team page

• wact.smsu.edu/enduserpage5.htm - sample accessibility report

• Southeast Missouri State University
(Michele Elder)

Resources

Ü Presenters

• Diana Ratliff - ratliffd@missouri.edu

• Scott Standifer - standifers@missouri.edu

End