ADA Best Practices

ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

Belows is a list of Etter Ventures responses regarding the services and assistance that can be provided to help a school district complay with the ADA Accessibility Requirements.

The information presented below is sourced directly from the Americans With Disabilities Act government website page that is located at https://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap5chklist.htm

Recommended Actions:

Here are some steps to take to ensure that your website – and the programs and services offered on it – are accessible to people with disabilities.

• Establish a district policy that your webpages will be accessible and create a process for implementation.

• Check the HTML of all new webpages. Make sure that accessible elements are used, including “alt” tags, long descriptions, and captions, as needed.

• Ensure that your webpages are designed in a manner that allows them to be displayed using a visitor’s own settings for color and fonts.

• If images are used, including photos, graphics, scanned images, or image maps, make sure to include text equivalents for them, using “alt” tags and/or long descriptions for each. Ensure that the text equivalents convey the meaningful information presented visually by the image.

• If you use online forms and tables, make those elements accessible.

• Ensure that videos appearing on your website include appropriately synchronized audio description and captions.

• When posting new documents on the website, always provide them in HTML or another text-based format (even if you are also providing them in another format, such as PDF). If documents are provided in both formats, provide both formats at the same time so people with disabilities have the same degree of access as others.

• Develop a plan for making your existing web content accessible, including specific steps and timeframes. Describe your plan on an accessible webpage that can be easily located from your home page. Encourage input on accessibility improvements, including which pages should be given high priority for change. Let citizens know about the standards or guidelines that are being used to provide accessibility. Make accessibility modifications to the more popular webpages on your website a priority.

• Ensure that in-house staff and contractors responsible for webpages and webpage content development are properly trained on your web accessibility policy and procedures.

• Provide a way for visitors to request accessible information or services and provide feedback about accessibility problems by posting a telephone number and email address on your home page. Establish procedures to assure a quick response to people with disabilities who use this contact information to access web-based information or services.

• Periodically enlist people with a variety of disabilities to test your webpages for accessibility and ease of use; use this information to increase your website accessibility.

• Consider using one of the no-cost or low-cost resources available on the Internet to test the accessibility of your website. (Please note, however, that these products may not identify all accessibility problems on your website.)

• Ensure that alternative means are available for people with disabilities who are unable to use computers to access information, programs, and services that are normally provided on your website.