Background
The Web offers many opportunities to people with disabilities that are unavailable through any other medium. It offers independence and freedom. However, persons with physical, visual, hearing, and cognitive/neurological disabilities may have problems accessing the content of some Web sites. If a Web site is not created with Web accessibility in mind, it may exclude the population that stands to gain the most from using the Internet. As Web designers become aware of and implement accessibility, they will maximize their content to reach the widest audience by ensuring that it can be accessed by everyone.
Trident Technical College is committed to overcoming accessibility issues and providing access for all users to official college Web sites in order to achieve levels of web accessibility necessary to accommodate those with disabilities.
Goal
Trident Technical College strives to make all official college Web pages ultimately accessible to those with disabilities in accordance with the guidelines defined in the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's (Access Board’s) Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508), Subpart B – Technical Standards, § 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications. Trident Technical College also strives to meet the recommended best practices by following the Web content Accessibility Guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C-WAI), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level 1.0.
Order of Implementation
During migration to compliancy, Trident Technical College will implement accessibility in the following order:
1. The Home page, main entry pages, most frequently visited pages, and pages that provide mission-critical college services.
2. Front-end user interfaces that provide access to college applications.
3. All new pages and interfaces that are created, and all updated legacy pages and interfaces.
Note: All new official Web pages must comply with the prevailing conformance level. Web site approvers should ensure all outdated Web pages are removed from their sites as they convert the current pages to an accessible format.
Exceptions: Pages excluded from 508 compliance standards include legacy pages and front-end user interfaces that do not require content updates, and instances where retrofitting pages and front-end user interfaces would cause undue burden*. However, accessible information will be provided to any individual with a disability that requests it in an alternative format.
Support
Web page approvers will be responsible for ensuring compliance of their Web sites with the Section 508 standards. However, several avenues of support will be provided:
Training: Training is available to all Trident Technical College faculty and staff from Trident Technical College’s Information Technology Training Center (ITTC) on request.
Other training resources are provided on Trident Technical College’s 508 Training Resources Web page.
Technical Support: Technical Support is available to all Trident Technical College faculty and staff on request via TTC’s Web Services Department for assistance in making their Web sites 508 Compliant.
As Section 508 Compliance is an ongoing procedure for all of Trident Technical College’s newly created and updated Web pages, TTC’s Web Services Department will periodically review college Web pages for compliance, and will work with Web page approvers to make all non-compliant pages meet Section 508 Standards within the boundaries described in the ‘Order of Implementation’ in this document.
The Web Services Department will also provide a method for collecting comments, complaints, and suggestions regarding the accessibility of its Web presence, and will respond to all submissions within a reasonable length of time.
*As per the Web Site Accessibility Policy and Transition Plan for the State of South Carolina; "Undue burden means significant difficulty or expense. In determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, an agency shall consider all agency resources available to the agency or components for which the product is being developed, procured, maintained, or used."
