ESCC Digital Accessibility

This was sent out by Sheri Prupis from VCCS Systems Office on 8/26/25.

The U.S. Department of Justice now requires all public colleges to ensure that digital content and systems meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards by April 2026. This includes public-facing, student-facing, and internal materials, as well as websites, forms, applications, and administrative platforms. The minimum skill set for faculty and staff to create digital content that complies with Title II accessibility requirements is outlined below.

Minimum Accessibility Skill Set for Faculty & Staff

• Headings & Structure – Use actual headings (not just larger fonts, bold, or color changes) to create logical structure for documents and course materials.
• Images – Add alternative (alt) text for all meaningful images; use captions when helpful; provide long descriptions when images are complex.
• Tables – Use tables only for data, not page layout. Apply proper headers and maintain a logical reading order.
• Links/URLs – Use descriptive link text (e.g., “Read the accessibility policy” instead of “click here” or pasting raw URLs).
• Multimedia (Videos/Audio) – Ensure all videos have accurate closed captions, provide transcripts for audio content, and include audio descriptions or narration for key visual information.
• PDFs & Documents – Save PDFs in an accessible format (OCR, not as images). Use tags and reading order tools to ensure screen readability. (AI tools can assist with retrofitting older PDFs for accessibility.)