Accessibility Governing Policies and UCSF Standards

UCSF seeks to develop accessible websites and web applications to be in compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), federal, state and University of California policies.

UC policy from the Office of the President

The UC CIO Council formed the Electronic Accessibility Committee (EAC) to facilitate systemwide coordination of and communication about IT accessibility-related issues and align UC locations’ implementation of the UC IT Accessibility Policy (ITAP) to help the University meet its obligations to provide an accessible electronic environment.

Note that the EAC policy sub-committee is in the official policy review process in anticipation of the 10-year anniversary from its effective date of 714/2017.

The following is from the University of California – Policy IMT-1300 Information Technology Accessibility Policy Document (PDF).

“The University of California is committed to supporting an information technology (IT) environment that is accessible to all, and in particular to individuals with disabilities. To this end, the University seeks to deploy information technology that has been designed, developed, or procured to be accessible to people with disabilities, including those who use assistive technologies. An accessible IT environment generally enhances usability for everyone. By supporting IT accessibility, the University helps ensure that as broad a population as possible is able to access, benefit from, and contribute to its electronic programs and services.”

The policy also references the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in Section B.1:

"Web Standard Electronic information must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at level AA Success Criteria. More information about the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) standards for accessibility can be found at the W3C website."

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

WCAG is a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C is the main international standards organization for the Internet. WCAG 2.0 is a stable technical standard. It has 12 guidelines organized under 4 principles: (POUR):

  • perceivable
  • operable
  • understandable
  • robust.

For each guideline, there are testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA, and AAA. The current UC policy references conformance at level A and AA. The level AAA is the most stringent and most difficult level to achieve.