Dear Carolina Community:
On behalf of the University’s Digital Accessibility Advisory Team (DAAT), we are sharing specific actions we are asking campus to take to assist with Carolina’s emerging digital accessibility plan. Implementing this plan is an important part of Carolina’s commitment to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all as we seek to ensure that our programs, services and activities are accessible to individuals with disabilities.
This effort will require the assistance of all units to make accessible all digital technology products, websites, web applications, computer and mobile applications, social media channels, instructional and assessment materials, library systems, and other electronic digital technology.
The DAAT is sharing this Statement of Commitment to Digital Accessibility to inform you about the University’s goal to make digital technology accessible to individuals with disabilities and to provide resources to achieve this goal. Because of the scale and complexity of the University’s digital technology, the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office and Office of Accessibility Resources & Service, in conjunction with other key campus partners, established the DAAT to disseminate information and identify relevant resources and strategies to assist with an emerging digital accessibility plan.
The University must comply with obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and maintain ongoing compliance consistent with applicable laws and recognized best practices.
The DAAT requests each unit across campus to take the following initial steps:
- Consult the following website for information and resources on digital accessibility: https://digitalaccess.unc.edu/
- Ensure your unit provides a means for users to alert the DAAT of any issue accessing your website and to obtain timely and effective assistance with any such issue. We strongly encourage website decision-makers to adopt the UNC Utility Bar; this is a centralized navigation bar that can be added to any UNC website and includes a link to report accessibility issues.
- Encourage webmasters, application developers and other relevant staff to attend training and otherwise become familiar with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Implement procedures to ensure new websites meet WCAG standards and bring legacy websites into compliance using a “good faith effort” standard.
- Educate content providers to ensure the content they post is accessible and establish procedures to periodically check such content for accessibility.
Over the coming months, the DAAT will be working on additional initiatives to provide policy, training, and guidance on digital accessibility to campus partners. Please stay tuned for such information and feel free to reach out to the DAAT at daat@unc.edu with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Brandon Washington
Director, Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office
Tiffany Bailey
Director, Office of Accessibility Resources & Service
This message is sponsored by the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office and the Division of Workforce Strategy, Equity and Engagement.