UNMC continues to update the wide variety of digital content around the institution as the date for fully enacting the federal government’s new accessibility guidelines approaches.
While UNMC has been diligently remediating existing digital content to make it more accessible, the guidelines will become the new standard going forward when they take effect on April 24.
Resources are available (see below) for faculty and staff to help adapt to this new way of handling digital content.
The federal regulations are meant to make such content more accessible to all users under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. All local and state governments, including universities, must comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA or risk penalties for non-compliance.
The guidelines cover such content as websites, classroom teaching materials, digital documents like PDFs, videos, and computer and mobile applications. Employees across UNMC – web content editors, faculty and staff who handle digital content – all share responsibility for meeting the new standards.
The changes cover digital content that includes:
- Digital instructional materials, such as lecture slides, recorded classes and electronic resources delivered through platforms such as Canvas.
- Official university websites, which provide central access to academic information, employment information, course catalogs and program details.
- Office and productivity software such as Office 365.
- Administrative systems, including ticketing platforms, online registration portals, employee information systems and application systems for student admissions, housing and employment.
- Library services, such as online, electronic books and academic databases.
- Digital communications, including official university social media channels and multimedia elements encompassing audio, video and text-based content.
The following links offer accessibility tools and resources that are available to digital content creators (availability may depend on the creator’s role within the organization).
Web content editors
- Microsoft Teams accessibility channel with instructions, tips, links and training
- PAVE document accessibility checker
- WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
- NVDA free screen reader and the NVDA User Guide
- PAC accessibility checker for PDFs and the PAC Quickstart Guide
- Microsoft 365 accessibility checker
- Adobe Acrobat Pro accessibility
Faculty
- UNMC Faculty Affairs guidance
- UNMC Academic Technologies training courses for remediating documents
- Digital accessibility checklists available from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Staff
- Updated UNMC Brandwise templates
- Microsoft 365 accessibility checker
- Adobe Acrobat Pro accessibility
UNMC is committed to an inclusive experience and committed to complying with federal accessibility law. For more about the changes, see the Digital Accessibility at UNMC webpage and the University of Nebraska’s Information and Communication Technology Accessibility Policy.