Dear Colleagues,
In this unprecedented time, UCI confronts a variety of digital accessibility issues. Regardless of the challenges, we stay committed to accessibility and equity, both in our work environment and in our educational mission.
We have fostered a strong partnership between the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD), and the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI). While each office is issuing guidance specific to their area, we wanted to provide an aggregated list of resources and an overview for those who are new to the principles of digital accessibility.
Below is information regarding policy, principles, and resources for addressing digital accessibility. Additional information can be found on the Accessibility.uci.edu website. Should you have follow-up questions about digital accessibility, please contact a member of the IT Accessibility Work Group; Meredith Ehrenberg, IT Accessibility Work Group Co-Chair; or Andrew Berk, ADA Coordinator.
We invite you to join the effort to expand UCI’s inclusion of all members of our community in our digital domain.
Kirsten Quanbeck
ADA Compliance Officer
Associate Chancellor
Equal Opportunity and Compliance
Tom Andriola
Vice Chancellor
Information Technology and Data
Policy
The University of California IT Accessibility Policy establishes that information technology should be designed, developed, and procured to be accessible to people with disabilities, including those who use assistive technologies. Some key information technologies are:
- websites
- course materials and anything related to instruction – including syllabi
- group and individual emails
- interoffice memos
- training materials, etc.
While we offer students an opportunity to register for services through the Disability Services Center and employees can request accommodations through their department with the assistance of Human Resources, no-one is required to disclose a disability. We should therefore assume that any digital materials that we produce may be used by a person with a disability and ensure all materials meet these guidelines to the best of our ability.
Accessibility Principles
These quick perspective videos are a great way to familiarize yourself with some of the principles of IT Accessibility and how different users may interact with your content.
P-O-U-R
POUR is an acronym for four high-level principles that describe functional accessibility: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
- Perceivable: the user can identify content and interface elements by means of the senses. For many users, this means perceiving a system primarily visually, while for others, it may be sound (read aloud by a machine) or touch (as on a Braille device).
- Operable: ability to use controls, buttons, navigation, and other interactive elements. For many users, this means identifying an interface control visually, and then clicking, tapping, or swiping. For others, a computer keyboard or voice commands are required.
- Understandable: consistent in presentation and format, predictable in design and usage, concise, and appropriate in voice and tone.
- Robust: standards-compliant; designed to function on all appropriate platforms.
Resources & Guides
General
- Siteimprove scans websites for accessibility issues and provides periodic reports. To obtain a new account and register your site for Siteimprove, go to [siteimprove.ucop.edu]siteimprove.ucop.edu. From there, users can auto-provision an account using their UCInetID. Then send an email to oit@uci.edu including which site to have scanned and the user(s) who will need permission to the site.
- The Accessibility website includes a library of short training videos on various topics. You can sort and filter to find recommended courses based on your role here on campus. Each video is just a few minutes long.
- You can also find information on closed-captioning vendors on the Accessibility website. Note that any videos you use or promote should include captions, whether you created the video or not.
- UCOP Electronic Accessibility Testing Website provides links to software that developers can use to test their products for accessibility prior to launch.
Classroom Materials:
- DTEI has an Accessibility page on the Teach Anywhere website
- They’ve also included a link to this Teaching Accessibility Cheat Sheet
- The Disability Services Center also has a page of Online Teaching Resources
- Siteimprove has a .free eLearning course called Accessibility for Virtual Classrooms