Accessibility means making your services available to as wide an audience as possible, including people with disabilities. For a service to be accessible, people with disabilities must be able to use the service in an equally effective and integrated manner as people without disabilities.
This means being proactive in developing accessible content. It's not sufficient to merely be available to assist people in response to a request. We must seek to make our resources as available as possible to everyone before it causes a barrier to access.
Some common techniques for ensuring digital accessibility include:
- Making sure your images have text-based alternative descriptions
- Verifying that your color palettes are understandable for people with limited color vision
- Adding captions to videos
- Verifying that people can navigate your content in its entirety solely with the keyboard
What Do I Need to Do?
Everyone at VCUSD who creates or maintains digital content or services is responsible for ensuring that content or service is accessible. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Websites
- Files and graphics uploaded to websites
- Course material on digital learning platforms
- Videos
- All services and content provided by third-party vendors.
The first step in making your digital resources accessible is learning how to make your technology accessible.
The reference materials provide recommended ways of addressing any accessibility barriers. If you find you have a lot of accessibility barriers, it is recommended to first focus on newly created content, then high-traffic content.
If you are involved in procuring services from vendors, those services must also conform to the District's accessible technology policies.
What If I Need More Help?
We are also glad to advise on any issues or questions regarding websites, hosted documents, online meetings and course instructions. If you still have questions, please create a ticket in IncidentIQ.