Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Version History

« Previous Version 6 Next »

Coming soon…

(info) About Digital Accessibility

Digital accessibility ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and use online content effectively. The U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, later expanded by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), mandates that public institutions and federally funded programs make electronic and information technology accessible. Amendments in 1998 introduced Section 508, requiring federal agencies to make digital content accessible.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) established the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as an international standard for web accessibility, currently in version 2.1. To provide meaningful access, public institutions must meet WCAG’s AA compliance level, covering all website elements, from pages and PDFs to images and videos.

👥 Why Does ADA Compliance Matter?

  1. Accessibility Promotes Equality

According to the CDC, one in four Americans has a disability. Failing to accommodate this 25% of visitors is like a physical store turning away every fourth customer—leading to frustration, lost business, and fewer recommendations. Ensuring accessibility isn’t just good practice; it’s essential for building a welcoming, inclusive experience for all users.

  1. Legal Compliance Protects Maricopa Community College’s

Ensuring your website is ADA-compliant helps avoid costly lawsuits, including legal fees, potential settlements, the expense of re-building your site to meet ADA standards, and possible PR issues that could harm your revenue. Compliance is a proactive step to safeguard your business.

  1. ADA Compliance Enhances Usability

Websites designed with accessibility in mind tend to be more user-friendly for all. Features like video captions benefit users watching in noisy environments, making content accessible and convenient for everyone.

🤳 Types of Digital Accessibility

 Public Website Accessibility

Accessibility is built into the way we design and structure all of our public Maricopa Community Colleges websites. The District subscribes to SiteImprove, which scans these sites for accessibility and quality assurance issues (spelling, broken links, plain language).

For all of our public-facing websites, we have ensured that our Drupal Common Framework meets WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. You can read more about Drupal’s approach to accessibility here.

 Digital Document Accessibility

All documents created within Maricopa Community Colleges must align with WCAG2.1 AA standards, which means that accessibility is not the responsibility of any one department—it is everyone’s responsibility.

.pdfs by nature don't work with screen readers, so they provide a bad user experience for users with vision issues. See an example here.

It is your responsibility to ensure that any .pdfs you would like to post to the web meet accessibility standards and are ADA-compliant.

 Ensuring Digital Document Accessibility

In order to check a .pdf for digital accessibility, you will first need to download Adobe Acrobat Pro, which Maricopa Community Colleges provides to all employees.

Once you have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed, open your .pdf using this software and do the following:

  1. Select the Tools tab at the top of the document

  2. Choose Accessibility from the right-hand menu

  3. You can now use the Accessibility Check tool to scan your document for accessibility (use Select All, then Start Checking)

  4. Once this is complete, you can now view the Accessibility Report, which will detail any accessibility issues found in your document

  5. For any status item marked Needs manual check or Failed, visit the associated Rule Name link for guidelines on remediating these issues

You can visit Adobe's complete guide on accessibility here.

Maricopa Community Colleges also works with Crawford Technologies, a third-party vendor specializing in document accessibility for the web. Crawford will provide remediation services at around $8/page. If you decide to go this route, you can reach out directly to das-quotes@crawfordtech.com (please cc matthew.rodgers@domail.maricopa.edu and jharrison@crawfordtech.com).

📚 Digital Accessibility Courses

To learn more about creating accessible web pages and digital content, refer to the following websites:

Accessibility Courses

  • No labels