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Computing and Information Services

University web accessibility policy

This policy was adopted by the Information Technology Strategy Committee on 17 February 2003.

Policy Summary

"All official University pages and sites must be written to be as accessible as reasonably possible to users with disabilities. As a minimum, compliance with the Web Accessibility Initiative 's Priority 1 recommendations shall be required. New sites must also comply with the Web Accessibility Initiative's Priority 2 recommendations."

Rationale

It is important that the widest possible audience is able to view the University web pages, as this will improve our ability to communicate with potential and current students, conference visitors, job applicants, the press, and other audiences. It is also a legal requirement under the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act 2001 (SENDA) and the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995 for there to be no reasonably avoidable discrimination towards people with disabilities in the provision of services. Legal advice, and cases that have been successfully brought under similar legislation abroad, suggest that a minimum requirement for legal compliance is the Web Accessibility Initiative's Priority 1 checkpoints.

Policy Statement

All official University pages [1] must be written to be as accessible as reasonably possible to users with disabilities, or with old browsing technology. As a minimum standard, all pages are expected to comply in full with the Priority 1 recommendations of the Web Accessibility Initiative [2] , All new sites must comply in full with at least the Priority 2 recommendations of the Web Accessibility Initiative. Existing sites should work towards this level of accessibility if possible, but should ensure that this does not delay compliance with the Priority 1 recommendations.

The Information Technology Service will provide assistance to maintainers of official websites to ensure that their sites comply with this policy. [3]

[1] For example, pages produced by academic departments, inter-departmental research groups, service and administration departments, Colleges, and official student bodies such as DSU , DUAU (and their societies and clubs) and college JCRs. Also included in this definition are pages providing academic resources (for example lecture notes), which must be accessible even if located in a lecturer's personal web space. Personal pages belonging to staff and students of the University are exempt from this policy, unless they provide information related to the business of the University.

[2] The Web Accessibility Initiative (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) provides three priority levels for its recommendations:

  1. These recommendations must be followed or some groups of users will find it difficult or impossible to use the site.
  2. These recommendations should be followed or some groups of users may find it difficult to use the site.
  3. These recommendations may be followed to improve site accessibility to some groups of users.

The full text of the recommendations is available online at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/

[3] A set of guidelines for accessible web design is available from http://www.dur.ac.uk/cis/web/accessibility/