The Search for Accessibility Policies…
I typed “accessibility policy” into my search engine, because I wanted to discover if any businesses or organizations had actually implemented an online accessibility policy summary as recommended by the PAS 78 (Publicly Accessible Statement). The results within the first three search pages surprised me, because U.S. governmental sites filled the search results pages along with a smattering of U.S. universities and AOL. Additionally, the pages I perused weren’t consistent as none of them followed any sort of global format, so some accessibility policy pages were confusing whereas others either were downright obtuse or brilliantly executed.
First, I’ll show you three examples from the pages I discovered, and then I’ll tell you why I hunted for accessibility policies in the first place …
Utah state government site’s accessibility policy
The fact that my search results revealed U.S. governmental sites and higher learning sites should not surprise me, as the desire for an accessibility policy, or a possible “standards harmonization” was delivered by the W3C’s WAI (World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative) before the PAS 78 was published. In fact, the WAI lists three possible accessibility policies – simple, comprehensive, and detailed – that organizations can use on their sites. The image above is from Utah, which arrived as the first search result on the first page. But, I was curious as to whether non-U.S. governmental sites had included an accessibility policy within their pages…
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.