Accessibility
At ETSU, people come first, are treated with dignity and respect, and are encouraged to achieve their full potential. Because of this belief, we want everyone — regardless of ability — to be able to use and interact with all digital content produced by the university. Providing accessible content to everyone at ETSU is an ethical imperative, a university policy requirement, and a federal law.
The Stats on Accessibility
1 in 4 people have a disability
6.2% of Americans experience deafness or serious difficulty hearing
5.5% of Americans deal with blindness or serious difficulty seeing
46% of adults in the U.S. use voice-controlled digital assistants regularly
Data from the CDC and Pew Research Center
ETSU Accessibility Requirements
ETSU is committed to ensuring that all ETSU-affiliated digital content is accessible to individuals with diverse abilities.
Digital content refers to:
- Web pages
- PDF documents
- Presentations (such as PowerPoint)
- Videos
- Text documents (such as Microsoft Word)
- Social media content
Our digital content should adhere to the electronic and information technology accessibility requirements under the federal civil rights laws including Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 508), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and 45 C.F.R. pt. 92 (or any subsequent standard adopted by an oversight administrative body, including the Federal Accessibility Board).
ETSU’s content standards shall follow the most current W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA or higher with a goal to transition to WCAG 3 level silver. Learn more about W3C’s guidelines and Section 508 standards.
Accessibility Training
All ETSU employees are responsible for making their digital content accessible.
The Office of University Marketing and Communications offers several recorded training sessions to assist faculty, staff, and students in creating accessible digital content.
Content Audit and Clean Up
To ensure all public-facing content meets accessibility standards, the Office of University Marketing and Communications is working closely with content creators and managers across campus to clean up and remove outdated content and content that may not be fully accessible.
Any website content that has not been updated in the last five years OR that is not fully accessible will be subject to automatic removal by the UMC web
team.
Why is this important?
- Quality control: many of these public-facing files are outdated or inaccurate
- Accessibility: many of these older files fall short of current standards for accessibility
- Storage: continuing to accumulate files in perpetuity is a waste of digital resources
Next Steps
- Content creators and managers should watch the recorded Accessibility Training Videos UMC has created in order to learn how to make digital content accessible. They should also review our Digital Documents Guide to learn where digital documents should be stored moving forward.
- Website managers should audit the content, particularly the PDF files, on their websites. Content that is no longer relevant or needed should be removed. Content that must be maintained should be updated to comply with current standards of accessibility.
FAQs
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What types of files must be updated?
- Webpages
- PDFs
- Any file that is housed on the etsu.edu domain or subdomains for downloading
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How do I learn to optimize for accessibility?
Please watch our content accessibility training videos.
*You will need Acrobat Pro rather than Acrobat Reader to remediate PDFs.
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Where do I get Acrobat Pro?
You need Acrobat Pro in order to remediate PDF documents.
ETSU has purchased an Acrobat license via an ETLA (Enterprise Term License Agreement) or VIP program, you can download the installers from this Adobe Acrobat Download page.You do not need to pay for or have an Adobe Creative Cloud License.
After the download is complete, follow the installation instructions on the Adobe Acrobat Download page to begin the installation.
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What about files I am linking to on other sites or embeds?
If a file is housed on another site and your page is merely linking to it, you are not responsible for updating the linked file. Embeds such as YouTube videos do not need to be updated. However, you should strive to optimize all content you produce for accessibility. -
I have a lot of files to update. Are there any quick tips?
Yes! First, think twice about whether or not the files in question really need to be available to the public. Could you instead move them to a shared drive for access by a limited group?
Second, consider whether it might be better to move the content to a webpage (html) instead of attaching a linked file. ETSU's website content management system has accessibility tools built in, so it is often easier to ensure accessibility by placing the content on a webpage instead of linking to an attachment.
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What if I need more time to update my files?
If you have several files that need updating and need more time to review, please email the UMC web team at cms@etsu.edu to request an extension.
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What if I need to archive or preserve documents but do not want the stored in the Modern Campus CMS?
Please review our Digital Documents Guide for best practices on where to store digital documents moving forward.
The ETSU Brand
Our brand guidelines ensure the university has a unified look and feel when telling the ETSU story.
We invite you to become a brand ambassador and help us comunicate how ETSU makes an
impact in our region and beyond.
