Web Accessibility Policy
Bryn Mawr College Web Accessibility Policy
Purpose of This Policy
Bryn Mawr College (“the College”) is committed to supporting an online environment that provides all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, with an equal opportunity to participate in the College’s programs, benefits, and services. The College’s commitment to digital accessibility is grounded not only in principles of equity and inclusion, but also in the knowledge that accessible digital content generally enhances usability for everyone. Carrying out this policy is the responsibility of all college administrators, faculty, and staff.
Policy Statement
All content and aspects of the College’s websites should conform to Digital Accessibility Benchmarks, except where an individual or committee designated by the College President determines that doing so would represent an Undue Burden or Fundamental Alteration. In such cases, the College will provide Equally Effective Alternative Access as defined below.
All personnel who are involved in the procurement, preparation and maintenance of the College’s websites and digital resources, services and platforms are expected to implement measures to advance this policy. This includes incorporating accessibility into development roadmaps; planning for compliance in the project planning, design, and proposal stages; expecting that vendors’ services comply with the Digital Accessibility Benchmarks; and testing for accessibility before publication or launch.
The College will provide a mechanism for users to inform the College of accessibility issues they encounter while using the College’s websites. The College will work to resolve reported issues as quickly as possible.
Definitions
Accessible
Accessible means that individuals with disabilities are able to independently acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services within the same timeframe as individuals without disabilities, with substantially equivalent ease and effectiveness of use.
Content
Content should be construed broadly to include anything on the College’s websites including, but not limited to, audio, video, images, tables, forms, documents (in any format, including .docx and .pdf), and html.
College Websites
College websites mean any website under College control providing content and functionality for the College's programs or services, including all subordinate and intranet pages and sites and web-based interfaces to applications, whether developed, maintained, or offered in-house or through third parties. This definition does not include sites that are independent of the College and do not provide College programs or services (such as sites that are linked to from the College’s websites) or personal sites that are individually managed by faculty or students.
Digital Accessibility Benchmarks
The College has adopted the most current version of , Level AA as its standard for digital accessibility. The College will routinely review the policy as standards evolve.
Equally Effective Alternative Access
As used in this Policy, Equally Effective Alternative Access means an alternative format, medium, or other aid that provides timely access to and accurately communicates the same content as the original format or medium, and which is appropriate to an individual's disability. To provide equally effective alternative access, the College need not ensure that individuals with disabilities achieve the identical result or level of achievement as individuals without disabilities, but the College must provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services as necessary to afford individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to obtain the same result, gain the same benefit, or reach the same level of achievement, in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
Fundamental Alteration
A Fundamental Alteration is a change to the College's services, programs, or activities that fundamentally alters the nature of the services, programs, or activities, including academic courses and technology. A determination of what constitutes a Fundamental Alteration may be made only by an individual or committee designated by the College President.
Undue Burden
An Undue Burden is a proposed course of action that would result in a significant financial and administrative burden. Because an institution must consider all resources available when reviewing claims of Undue Burden, the determination of what constitutes an Undue Burden may only be made by an individual or committee designated by the College President. In situations where an undue burden has been documented, the College will provide Equally Effective Alternative Access.