The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) notified LSU that its online presence was not in compliance with federal accessibility laws, and set an August 2019 deadline for LSU to comply.

LSU created the Online Accessibility Working Group (OAWG), composed of faculty and staff, to help implement the resolution agreement that LSU signed with OCR.

What is online accessibility?

• All online content must work for users with a wide range of abilities/disabilities.
  • Visual/hearing impairments, inability to see small type, and mobility impairments that prevent users from working a mouse are examples of why all content must be accessible.
• All online content must work with a broad range of assistive technologies.
  • Screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech input software are examples.
• Must be in compliance regardless of whether your students have any disabilities.
  • It’s the law! Not all students reveal their disabilities to LSU.

What standard of compliance must the university meet?

WCAG 2.0 AA and WAI-ARIA 1.0

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a range of guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make web content more accessible.
• Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) is a technical specification published by the W3C to make dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, JavaScript, and related technologies more accessible.

What needs to be accessible?

Content developed in-house, products developed through a vendor, online products, resources purchased and third-party content, including:

• Websites, intranets, and portals, including faculty webpages
• Classroom technologies
• Videos and audio content, shown in class or posted online
• Electronic documents, including textbooks and syllabi
• Desktop, mobile and cloud-based applications
• Emails
• Official LSU social media channels
• Online calendars
• Library resources and databases
• Digital signage

What steps can faculty take to make materials compliant?

• Evaluate Existing Materials
  • Review font size, color contrast, photo captions, headers, and hyperlinks to ensure they meet standards.
    • Webpages
    • Syllabi
    • PDFs 
    • Slide Presentations
    • Word Documents
    • Email
    • Digital teaching and learning materials, including information posted on faculty websites and within Moodle.
  • All videos must be closed-captioned, regardless of where they are posted; this includes videos on non-LSU websites being linked to as a resource.
  • All preexisting content will need to be compliant by August 2019.
• Developing New Content
  • Any new content you create must be in compliance prior to publishing/using.
  • When working with a vendor or purchasing an online resource, ask for a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). The unit purchasing the product must review the VPAT to identify accessibility shortcomings with the product.
  • For any product or resource that is not fully compliant, an Equally Effective Alternate Access Plan (EEAAP) must be developed. Attempt to obtain compliant products; developing an EEAAP should be the exception, not the rule.
• Current Resources
  • Accessibility tips for web, social media and email at lsu.edu/accessibility. 

  • Training is available for all website content managers using the university’s WordPress or OU Campus website solutions. Contact Strategic Communications at stratcomm@lsu.edu if you would like to attend a training session.

  • The Faculty Technology Center has developed a series of guidelines for faculty members, available in GROK > Accessibility Resources.

  • Panopto offers captioning services. You can find a number of related articles in our Panopto: LSU Overview.

  • Specialized training for faculty, business managers, web developers and other groups is available at training.lsu.edu.

• Future Communications

  • Watch email and other university communications for notices about training. Please open emails related to accessibility, and check your junk folder to ensure you don't miss anything important.

Need help or have a suggestion?

Contact the Online Accessibility Working Group. We are here to help!

• oawg@lsu.edu
• lsu.edu/engagement/ocr-tix/accessibility