According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11% of undergraduates have a disability. Section 508 guidelines help universities to understand how to best service this population. As part of that framework, there are minimum standards put forth for web accessibility.
The student experience can be significantly improved through the use of student portals – which means that the portal should be 508 compliant to best service the entire population. This means that students should equally be able to access things like admissions information, facilities service requests, IT support tools, and infrastructure.
Your school’s website is important – it is your face to the world – to the students, their parents, to the faculty and staff. In fact, 19% of the American population is on record with a disability according to the US Census Bureau – which means that when servicing the broader population 508 compliance becomes an even bigger topic to contemplate.
When we discuss digital strategy – we often overlook usability – in general terms and then in more practical such as 508 compliance. At TDX we have worked with our customers to understand their requirements as it relates to accessibility and have built a portal that can be easily configured to meet your specific brand, tactical and technical requirements – including 508 compliance.
How is your IT group approaching 508 compliance for student web accessibility?