I for one never want to reinvent the wheel. Whenever I am tasked to create something, I always begin by looking at what others have done so that I may learn from their efforts to inform my thinking. Creating an institution-wide web accessibility policy is an enormous task that requires contemplation along many institutional dimensions and also along several policy components. In the GOALS Recommended Practice Indicators we outline what we view as necessary components to go into a policy document. While these components are described in greater detail on our website, they are comprised of the following brief elements:
- Summary statement(s) of the policy
- Effective date(s) for the policy
- The scope of the policy
- The technical standard used in the policy
- A provision for procurement
- The consequences if units or individuals choose non-conformance
- A mechanism for ongoing review
It is important to remember that the policy document is separate from the institution’s written implementation plan. However finding models that have been used successfully can be a treasure trove if you are looking to create either (policy or plan) for your institution. Unfortunately, identifying good examples of policies that contain the components you may want to use, or even full policies in use, can be difficult and time consuming.
In the spirit of helping your efforts to create a web accessibility policy at your institution, the following resource sheet provides examples that may be helpful. Please remember as you look through these links that your institution may already have a template of sorts you must use for policy creation. Also, please know that there are many other excellent policies out there, so if you know of some good models, or you would like to share yours, please add it to the comments below.
Examples and suggestions for policy creation
- GOALS indicators on policy
- W3C on writing an accessibility policy
- Summary Statements
- U of Wisconsin
- Ohio State University Policy
- University of Arkansas Littlerock
- George Mason University
- Fresno State (typical of others in the CSU system) point to language of the ATI
- Dates and Timeline Guides
- Scope of Policy
- Technical Standard descriptions and explanations (e.g. 508 vs. WCAG 2.0)
- Ohio State University Web Accessibility Policy (see section titled “Web Site Definitions and Minimal Requirements†for the main policy, or go directly to the policy on web accessibility
- Other resources
- Procurement statements and explanations
- University of Washington
- Cal Poly Pomona (scroll to procurement)
- Other resources
- Penalties for non-conformance
- University of Iowa
- University of Wisconsin Failure to Comply with Information Technology Resource Policies (bottom of page)
- Mechanism for ongoing review
Additional resources
- Web accessibility as part of other policies
- CSU-Boulder embeds accessibility into other web development guidelines
- University of Kentucky includes web accessibility in their institutional web standards
- Sacramento State includes web accessibility into general web policies
- George Mason University blended accessibility across several existing policies
- Indiana University – Purdue University (IPFU), Fort Wayne included web accessibility at several levels. For example they have it as both a standalone policy out of the office of Institutional Equity and as one required component of their web standards
- Unique features
- Washburn university has an official website policy that faculty and staff must agree to that includes web accessibility quality checklist
- While not part of policy, the University of Maine helps communicate a new direction on accessibility by putting it on a public website
- Ohio State policy and standard. OSU created a web accessibility center with more detailed information on implementation
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