State of Connecticut Web Site Accessibility Committee ConneCT - Your Key to Accessibility

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Universal Website Accessibility Policy for State Websites - Version 3.1

Please note that this policy was revised in July of 2000 - the current version can be found here: http://www.cmac.state.ct.us/access/policies/accesspolicy40.html

Policy | Design Guidelines | Checklist | Additional References


Policy

It is the policy of the State of Connecticut to ensure that people with hearing, visual and other disabilities have equal access to public information that is available on the Internet and the World Wide Web. It is the direct responsibility of the agency and its web page developers to become familiar with the guidelines for achieving universal accessibility and to apply these principles in designing and creating any official State of Connecticut Website.

According to 1992 statistics from the Bureau of the Census, there are 9.7 million people in the United States who have difficulty seeing the words and letters in ordinary newsprint, equal to 5.0% of the total population. Another 10.9 million people, or nearly 6% of the total population, have difficulty hearing what is said in an ordinary conversation with another person. In 1995, Connecticut had an estimated 35,000 legally blind persons and twice that number who are visually impaired. Additionally, there are estimated to be 25,000 profoundly deaf and 175,000 hearing impaired persons in Connecticut.

The use of the guidelines below will ensure that websites created by the State of Connecticut are developed to serve the largest possible audience. Following these guidelines will also provide an added benefit to those users with text-based browsers, slow(er) modem connections and/or no multi-media capabilities on their computer.

 

Design Guidelines

This policy provides a set of established guidelines adopted by the ConneCT Management Advisory Committee (CMAC), a checklist of design considerations and additional references. The checklist provides a quick reference for numerous design issues. Additional references are provided for those who wish to gain a broader understanding of disability and accessibility issues.

The ConneCT Management Advisory Committee (CMAC) has adopted the "Design of HTML Pages to Increase their Accessibility to Users with Disabilities" as the primary guideline to meet the objectives of the Universal Accessibility for State Websites policy. These published guidelines are maintained online by professionals employed in the area of assistive and adaptive technology at the University of Wisconsin's Trace Research and Development Center. The guidelines are located on the World Wide Web at Universal Resource Locator address:

http://trace.wisc.edu/text/guidelns/htmlgide/htmlgide.html

This dynamic reference will provide Connecticut’s website developers with access to current design issues and the recommended solutions of experts as the technology continues to change.

Paper copies of the guidelines may be requested from the following address:

Trace Research and Development Center
S-151 Waisman Center
1500 Highland Ave
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 263-1156

The development of these guidelines is sponsored by the National Institute for Disability Related Research (NIDRR), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education and in cooperation with the NCSA Mosaic Access Project.

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Checklist of Design Considerations (Checklist Revised: January, 1997)

The following list has been compiled from various sources. The purpose of this list is to provide a summary of the types of issues to consider when creating and designing accessible HTML pages.

Universal Design

Text-Based Design

Graphics and Images

Audio/Visual Features

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Additional References

The following are provided as references for Universal Website Accessibility issues.

Universal Accessibility

Designing Accessible HTML Pages

Alternative Access Systems

Disability-Related Information

 


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