Digital Accessibility

1. Digital Accessibility The Ohio State University

2. Slides URL • https://accessibility.osu.edu/uc2019

3. Introductions • Peter Bossley, Director – Digital Accessibility Center (DAC), ADA Coordinator’s Office • Kathy Braidic, Amy Major – Digital Accessibility Services (DAS), Office of the CIO

4. Talking Points • Background & How we got here • DAC/DAS Compliance and Operations Partnership • New program overview • 3rd Party Evaluation Collaboration?

5. Background & How we got here…

6. Background • Public R1 research / land grant university • Undergraduate student enrollment ~65,000, ~42,000 faculty and staff

7. Background (Continued 1) • Web accessibility center formed in 2002 via grant funding, .5 FTE graduate student • Shared operation continued by ADA Coordinator’s Office and Disability Services after grant expiration; added full-time director role • Web Accessibility Policy implemented in summer 2003 • 2003-2011 relied on grassroots efforts to improve accessibility, policy required compliance but lacked structured oversight and reporting to ensure compliance

8. Background (Continued 2) • 2011 – started formation of strategies with high impact units to address accessibility as a process and ongoing activity as a result of emerging regulatory concerns e.g. Kindle, Penn State, etc. • 2013 – Office of the CIO made full-time accessibility analyst hire to address centrally deployed technology and services

9. How we got here… • July 2016 – OCR notifies Ohio State of a complaint regarding the accessibility of our public web space • Ohio State enters into early resolution process • November 2016 – Ohio State signs settlement agreement with OCR

10. How we got here (Continued 1) Key Elements of OCR Agreement • Public web space audit • Training for staff who produce online content • Process and policy for ensuring compliance • Corrective action strategy • Ongoing reporting

11. DAC/DAS Compliance & Operations Partnership

12. New Program Overview

13. Digital Accessibility Center (DAC) • Provide compliance and administrative oversight to policy compliance activities • Investigate and resolve complaints • Define, interpret, and implement technical standards for Digital Accessibility Policy • Review and approve, if appropriate, Accommodation-Based Exception Requests • Evaluate Digital Access Strategies and annual reports from campus units

14. Digital Accessibility Services (DAS) • Communicate accessibility policy requirements to University • Provide learning opportunities for University • Provide an Accessibility Coordinator toolkit • Partner with Accessibility Coordinators to mature the program • Capture Accessibility Policy implementation metrics and scorecards

15. Digital Accessibility Coordinators • Ensure appropriate staff identified and complete required training • Ensure Build/Buy/Upgrade process is clearly defined and followed • Submit scorecards to DAS and Annual Digital Accessibility Report and Plan • Ensure complaints forwarded to the ADA Coordinator’s Office • Ensure website audits completed and Corrective Action Strategies submitted and implemented

16. 3rd Party Accessibility Evaluation Collaboration?

17. Risk Approach to Prioritization

18. RFP Underway • Defined evaluation criteria/standards • Defined results reporting template • Per unit requests, estimates, and billing • Evaluation results owned by OSU

19. Next Steps • Finalize RFP • Design/implement method to capture & share evaluation results • Try it out! • See if other schools want to join in

20. Questions? • Peter Bossley bossley.5@osu.edu(614) 688-3028 • Kathy Braidic Amy Majordas@osu.edu

21. Framework