Accessibility Policies, Laws and Standards
Policies
Many colleges and universities have created policies related to accessibility. Some are specifically related to IT; others are more general. For example, the University of Colorado issued an administrative policy on digital accessibility on January 1, 2019, approved by the president. The APC policy #6011 states:
In addition to complying with the law, CU is ethically committed to communicating information to all individuals in a manner that enables them to achieve their academic and professional goals and aspirations. To maximize CU’s potential to achieve its legal and ethical commitments in the digital environment, the university has established the following policy to complement its digital accessibility program.
To ensure that all faculty, staff, students, and members of the public have equal opportunity, our programs must be designed in such a way that everyone has access, including when access is via technology.
Given the CU's commitment to providing accessible opportunities and environments, it looks to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (Level AA) as a target for meeting these commitments related to web and IT accessibility.
Resources Related to Laws and Policies
Some higher education institutions have faced legal action in the form of resolutions or lawsuits related to their IT accessibility. The following pages were developed in order to organize this information so that we and other institutions might learn from it and apply it to our own accessibility efforts.
Resolution Agreements and Lawsuits
Provides a comprehensive summary of legal cases related to technology accessibility, especially in higher education
Legal Cases by Issue
Features a list of key issues that have surfaced in legal resolution agreements involving higher education institutions and technology accessibility.
EDUCAUSE, the association for information technology in higher education, has published a document titled IT Accessibility Risk Statements and Evidence in order to help identify accessibility risks that IT leaders should consider in their risk management process.