UNT System Administration Accessibility Plan
The UNT System Administration (System Administration) is committed to providing an environment that affords equal access and opportunity to otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities, in compliance with federal and state law. Consistent with this commitment, the System Administration strives to provide electronic information resources (EIR) that are accessible to all members of the System Administration community and that meet the requirements as stated in Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Title 1, Part 10, Sections 206.70 and 213.
Following TAC, the System Administration developed the EIR Accessibility Compliance Plan to assist the System Administration. Component institutions comply with developing, procuring, maintaining, and using electronic resources, including website development.
- Definition of Electronic and Information Resources
- Responsibilities for Complying with EIR Accessibility Rules
- Procurement Standards for EIR Accessibility
- Standards for Electronic and Information Resources
- Standards for Web Accessibility
- Compliance with Web Accessibility Standards
- Web Accessibility and Usability Testing
- Functional Performance Criteria for EIR
- Training
- References
Definition of Electronic and Information Resources
Electronic and information resources are information technology and any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment used to create, convert, duplicate, or deliver data or information. EIR includes telecommunications products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, websites, multimedia, and office equipment such as copiers and fax machines.
EIR doesn’t include any equipment that contains embedded information technology that is used as an integral part of the product, but the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission or reception of data or information. For example:
- HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning);
- Equipment such as thermostats or;
- Temperature control devices; and
- Medical equipment where information technology is integral to its operation
Responsibilities for Complying with EIR Accessibility Rules
Departments or individuals are required to comply with EIR accessibility rules and with the System Administration EIR policy and procedures related to the development, procurement, maintenance, and use of EIR.
The System Administration has appointed an EIR Accessibility Coordinator to oversee the EIR policy’s support and maintenance and coordinate training on compliance with policy 05.211 (Electronic and IR Accessibility) with the campus institutions or their designated contact related to accessibility compliance. The EIR Coordinator reviews exception or exemption requests related to the acquisition of electronic and information resources.
Purchasing monitors compliance with EIR accessibility rules, System Administration policy, and procurement procedures about purchases made under purchasing contracts, purchase orders, or P-cards.
Procurement Standards for EIR Accessibility
When purchasing electronic and information resources, departments should:
- Review the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) presentation EIR Accessibility in Texas Procurement.
- Contact Procurement for guidance on requesting accessibility information from vendors during the RFP process, such as accessibility conformance reports or Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT).
- Contact Procurement for guidance on inserting clauses in the contract requiring the vendor to comply with 1 TAC §§ 206.70 and 213.
Standards for Electronic and Information Resources
All electronic and information resources developed, procured, or changed through a procured services contract, and all electronic and information resources services provided through hosted or managed services contracts must comply with accessibility requirements.
EIR accessibility requirement hyperlinks:
- Software Applications and Operating Systems
- Telecommunications Products
- Video and Multimedia Products
- Hardware
- Functional Performance Criteria
- Support Documentation and Services
Standards for Web Accessibility
To ensure that the System Administration, component institutions, and campus departments’ web pages are accessible despite physical, sensory, or environmental, or technological barriers, the System Administration recommends the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which may be found at the following hyperlink: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), as the standard for web accessibility.
Web pages published or hosted for or by the System Administration must comply with 1 TAC § 206.70, including compliance with the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as outlined within the requirement.
Departments have the sole responsibility for the manual inspection of their webpages to validate accessibility criteria unidentified by scanning technology and are responsible for remediation of any accessibility errors on their webpages.
Compliance with Web Accessibility Standards
Implementation of this plan will be incremental. All new web pages will be made accessible before publishing. Existing web pages will be assessed for compliance during updates or by requests from users or others.
If you encounter a web page while accessing the System Administration website, which you cannot utilize due to a disability or impairment, please email the UNT System EIR Accessibility Coordinator for rectification of the issue or accommodation.
Web Accessibility and Usability Testing
Public and business partners access the System Administration website through various workstations, Internet connections, and web browser applications. To ensure that System Administration web pages are designed with consideration for the types of internet connections available, departmental web developers and publishers are responsible for testing their web pages for accessibility and usability before making them available to the public.
Word, Excel, and PDF documents should also be tested before publishing on a System Administration web page. Test web documents using the following hyperlinks for Accessibility Checking tools:
- W3C Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Accessibility Guidelines
- WAVE WebAIM Tool
- UNT System ITSS EIR Accessibility Tools Web Page
Functional Performance Criteria for EIR
- Provide content that, when presented to an impaired user, conveys the same function, purpose, and information as unimpaired users.
- Ensure that text and graphics are understandable when viewed without color.
- Mark up documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation with style sheets rather than with presentation elements and attributes.
- Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text.
- Ensure that tables have appropriate headings and necessary markup for transformation by accessible browsers and other user agents.
- Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off.
- Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.
- Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design: Device-independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, self-voicing, etc.
- Use features that enable activation of page elements via a variety of input devices.
- Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.
- Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.
- Provide context and orientation information to help users understand complex pages or elements.
- Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms -- orientation information, navigation bars, a site map, etc. -- to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site.
- Ensure that documents are clear and simple for easy understanding.
Training
The EIR Accessibility Coordinator, with the coordination of campus assigned accessibility contacts, will offer a training program to educate the System Administration community about the need for compliance with accessibility requirements and the policy and procedures to follow to adhere to those requirements.
References
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d)
- Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, 213; Accessibility Standards for Electronic and Information Resources
- Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, § 206.70; Accessibility of State Websites Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- W3C World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation AA
- UNT System Administration Policy; 05.211 Electronic and IR Accessibility