Use the links below to navigate the sections on this webpage:
If you are having problems accessing any online content on Sinclair's websites or in Sinclair's courses, you can request it be made available in an alternate format for accessibility needs. To request information in an alternate format, please fill out the appropriate concern form OR contact Accessibility Services.
Make sure to include the best way to contact you for providing assistance, what online content you are trying access, what accessibility barriers you are encountering, and what alternate format you are requesting. All alternate format requests will be responded to promptly and alternate accessible content will be provided in a timely manner.
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Building10, Room 424
Phone: Accessibility Services Phone: 937-512-5113
Public Videophone: 937-701-6784
Email: accessibility@sinclair.edu
Website: www.sinclair.edu/accessibility-services
To make a formal complaint, or simply to learn about the procedures available at Sinclair, see www.sinclair.edu/complaint
Policy and complaints –
Web Accessibility Coordinator, Jeannette Owens
937-512-4483 | Building 12, Room 382 | jeannette.owens@sinclair.edu
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)/Section 504 – Students or visitors in need of information regarding disability accommodations can contact Lorrie Spivey, Manager of Accessibility and Counseling Services and ADA/504 Coordinator for students and visitors, at lorrie.spivey@sinclair.edu or 937-512-3400.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)/Section 504 - Employees in need of information regarding disability accommodations can contact Mindi Hixson, Benefits Administrator and ADA/504 Coordinator for employees, at mindi.hixson@sinclair.edu or 937-512-5308.
Chief Diversity Officer, Michael Carter
937-512-3833 | Building 12, Room 312 | michael.carter@sinclair.edu
www.sinclair.edu/diversity
Web accessibility training –
Web Accessibility Coordinator, Jeannette Owens
937-512-4483 | Building 12, Room 382 | jeannette.owens@sinclair.edu
Technical assistance –
Help Desk
937-512-HELP (4357)
helpdesk@sinclair.edu
it.sinclair.edu/help-support
Accessibility assistance –
Accessibility Services
937-512-5113 (Public Videophone: 937-701-6784) | Building 10, Room 424
accessibility@sinclair.edu
www.sinclair.edu/accessibility-services
Click here to view all Student Services
POSTED DATE: November 16, 2018
Last Revision: May 20, 2020
Web site address for this policy: www.sinclair.edu/accessibility
Use the links below to navigate the sections on the Policy:
Sinclair Community College is strongly committed to ensuring equal access and equal opportunities to all its constituencies. All Sinclair web sites and online content must be accessible to those with disabilities in accordance with this Web Accessibility Policy. This policy establishes minimum standards for the accessibility of Sinclair web sites and online content to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal regulations, including, but not limited to: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA), as amended.
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Accessible | A person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. A person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally, and independently as a person without a disability. Although this might not result in identical ease of use compared to that of persons without disabilities, it still must ensure equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of such technology. |
Archived content | Web site/s, web application/s, web page/s, and online content that is (a) intended to represent a historical snapshot of a course, program, academic curriculum, record of events, historical data or backups, or other web information, and (b) not used in any current course, current program, currently active academic curriculum, or current activity, or current administrative function of the college. |
Assistive technologies | Adaptive and/or rehabilitative devices, whether acquired commercially or off the shelf, modified, or customized, that promote greater independence for individuals with disabilities by changing how these individuals interact with technology. Assistive technologies include special input devices, such as a head/foot mouse or voice recognition programs, screen enlargement applications, and screen-reading software, which can read aloud for the user the details of material displayed on a monitor. |
Constituencies | All people involved with or served by Sinclair Community College, including potential students, current students, employees, staff, faculty, guests, visitors, and members of the public. |
Disabilities |
The types of disabilities that must be accommodated, non-discriminated against, and be provided an equal access and opportunity included, but are not limited to people who may:
|
Functionally accessible | Means that any person can use the resource effectively to perform an available task. The best way to test functional accessibility is with real world use testing by those with disabilities and by assistive technologies. |
Legacy content | Any web application using old or outdated programming, technology, or system that cannot be upgraded or modernized without being replaced or completely rewritten OR any web site, web application, web page, and online content published prior to May 31, 2017. |
Online content | Any textual, visual, or aural content that is encountered as part of the user experience on a web site including, but not limited to; rich media files, document files (e.g. PDF, Word, PowerPoint), forms, images, data, interactive elements, embedded web applications, videos, audio files, quizzes, tests, articles, and interactive videos as a part of eLearn content. |
Redesign | Any phase during the development or maintenance of a web site, web application, web page, or online content in which significant alteration or update is made to the visual design, institutional branding, information architecture, or technical functionality of the site. Minor content updates are not considered redesign projects. |
Technically accessible | A resource that is coded to an accepted accessibility standard. A resource that is technically accessible and shows compliant on an automated accessibility scanner may still be functionally inaccessible. |
Unofficial content |
An application, a web site/page, or online content published by an individual (student, a college employee or by a non-college organization), which is not hosted on Sinclair servers. Examples include:
|
VPAT | Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT) is a template filled and submitted by vendors to Sinclair to indicate their product’s conformance with accessibility standards and assist with Sinclair’s market research responsibility and decision making on purchasing and contracting for accessible web products that meet Sinclair’s Web Accessibility Policy. |
Web application | Any client-server program that delivers dynamically generated content intended to be rendered in a web browser by the client. |
Web page | A (web) document rendered by a markup language, (e.g., xHTML, HTML), independent of its transmission protocol (e.g., http) and user agent (browser/reader). |
Web site | Any collection of web pages, including web applications, residing under a single domain and whose content is centered on a single organizational department, topic, activity, outreach, administrative function, part of the student lifecycle, and/or online instruction. |
Position or Office | Responsibilities |
---|---|
Web Accessibility Coordinator |
|
Web Developers | Ensure all web sites and online content are accessible in accordance with this policy, following the MWAS(refer to Requirements: section 2A) and/or VPAT®. Attend regular accessibility training. |
Web Content Editors | Ensure all web sites and online content are accessible in accordance with this policy, following the MWAS and/or VPAT®. Attend regular accessibility training. |
eLearning Personnel | Ensure appropriate content placed into courses is accessible in accordance with this policy. Attend regular accessibility training. |
Faculty (Course Coordinators, Developers, and Instructors) | Ensure appropriate content in their courses is accessible in accordance with this policy. Attend regular accessibility training. |
Purchasing | Ensure all vendors have submitted VPAT®s when purchasing software or licenses. |
The Sinclair Community College Minimum Web Accessibility Standards (MWAS) provide guidelines for web developers and content editors on how to help satisfy the accessibility requirements of the Web Accessibility Policy. Guidelines are based on the applicable state and federal regulations, including, but not limited to:
MWAS | Content Types | References |
---|---|---|
A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content). | Graphics Links Multimedia Video/Audio |
508 1194.22 a WCAG 1.1 |
Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation, whether prerecorded or live. | Multimedia Video/Audio |
508 1194.22 b WCAG 1.2 |
Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. | Graphics Use of Color |
508 1194.22 c WCAG 1.4.1 |
Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. | Document Organization Semantics Layout Navigation Architecture |
508 1194.22 d WCAG 1.3.1 WCAG 1.3.2 WCAG 4.1.2 |
Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map. | Graphics Links |
508 1194.22 e WCAG 1.1 |
Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. | Graphics Links |
508 1194.22 f WCAG 1.1 |
Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables. | Tables Document Organization Semantics |
508 1194.22 g WCAG 1.3.1 WCAG 1.3.2 |
Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers. | Tables Document Organization Semantics |
508 1194.22 h WCAG 1.3.1 |
Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation. | Document Organization Semantics |
508 1194.22 i WCAG 4.1.2 |
Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | Graphics Dynamic Content Multimedia Videos |
508 1194.22 j WCAG 2.3 |
A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. | Flash Multimedia |
508 1194.22 k WCAG Conforming Alternative Version |
When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology. | Dynamic Content | 508 1194.22 l WCAG 1.3.1 WCAG 4.1.2 |
When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l). | Plug-ins Multimedia |
508 1194.22 m 508 1194.22 k WCAG 1.1 WCAG 2.1.2 |
When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. | Forms | 508 1194.22 n WCAG 1.3.1 WCAG 2.1 WCAG 2.4.3 WCAG 2.4.6 WCAG 2.4.7 WCAG 3.3.2 |
A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links. | Document Organization Semantics |
508 1194.22 o WCAG 2.4.1 |
When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required. | Forms Dynamic Content Interactive Content |
508 1194.22 p WCAG 2.2.1 |
Instructions provided for understanding and operating content do not rely solely on sensory characteristics of components such as shape, size, visual location, orientation, or sound. | Graphics Multimedia |
WCAG 1.3.3 |
For moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information, or audio or videos that automatically plays; a mechanism is available to pause, stop, or to control the frequency/speed/volume. | Graphics Multimedia Dynamic Content Video/Audio |
WCAG 1.4.2 WCAG 2.2.2 |
The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. | Graphics Multimedia Use of Color |
WCAG 1.4.3 |
Except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality. | Text | WCAG 1.4.4 |
If the technologies being used can achieve the visual presentation, text is used to convey information rather than images of text. | Graphics | WCAG 1.4.5 |
Web pages have titles that describe topic or purpose. | Text Semantics |
WCAG 2.4.2 |
The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general. | Text Links Semantics |
WCAG 2.4.4 |
More than one way is available to locate a Web page within a set of Web pages except where the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process. | Navigation Architecture Document Organization |
WCAG 2.4.5 |
The default human language of each Web page can be programmatically determined. The human language of each passage or phrase in the content can be programmatically determined except for proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text. |
Language Semantics |
WCAG 3.1.1 WCAG 3.1.2 |
When any component receives focus, it does not initiate a change of context. | Links Navigation Semantics |
WCAG 3.2.1 |
Changing the setting of any user interface component does not automatically cause a change of context unless the user has been advised of the behavior before using the component. | Forms Buttons Semantics |
WCAG 3.2.2 |
Navigational mechanisms that are repeated on multiple Web pages within a set of Web pages occur in the same relative order each time they are repeated, unless a change is initiated by the user. | Navigation Architecture Document Organization |
WCAG 3.2.3 |
Components that have the same functionality within a set of Web pages are identified consistently. | Semantics | WCAG 3.2.4 |
If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text. If suggestions for correction are known, then the suggestions are provided to the user, unless it would jeopardize the security or purpose of the content. | Dynamic Content Interactive Content Forms |
WCAG 3.3.1 WCAG 3.3.3 |
For Web pages that cause legal commitments or financial transactions for the user to occur, that modify or delete user-controllable data in data storage systems, or that submit user test responses, at least one of the following is true: There is a method of reversal, There is an option to check and correct input errors, There is an option to confirm/review and correct before submission. | Dynamic Content Interactive Content Forms |
WCAG 3.3.4 |
In accordance with section IIIB of Sinclair's Web Accessibility Policy, vendors must submit a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT) to the Purchasing department before Purchasing will approve software, licenses, or contracts for said goods related to this policy.
If a vendor is not able to provide an accessible product or services supporting making their goods accessible then another vendor must be found or Sinclair's supporting internal departments must have adequate access from the vendor to be able to provide accessibility support. If it is technologically not possible for the vendor or Sinclair's internal departments to provide accessibility support then justification and an exception must be approved.
Download the latest VPAT® Here & View Sinclair's Purchasing Procedures
Click here to view all of Sinclair's policies.
Prior to COVID-19 Sinclair was looking into purchasing Ally for Brightspace. This Summer term Sinclair College leadership moved up the timeline to invest in Ally for Brightspace. An implementation team has been working hard to quickly install and begin testing Ally in eLearn courses. The need for ensuring accessible online and remote courses was apparent, as all Sinclair classes moved into eLearn this Summer.
What does Ally do? It makes our eLearn digital content more accessible and federally compliant by:
Is Ally fully functional now in eLearn? No not yet. The implementation team is still working to roll out all three of these features fully across all eLearn courses. More communications to faculty and students are coming as features are turned on!
Available for free use are many tools that can be used to run automated test checks for accessibility issues. Similar to running a spell check, tools find issues based on a set "dictionary", but some times issues like grammar can't be found unless you manually look at the whole context. It is always recommended to do both automated and manual checks for accessibility.
IT Application Development and Marketing & Communication have limited licenses to additional automated testing tools and can help scan for some accessibility issues.
Accessibility Services and Marketing & Communication have limited licenses to additional assistive technology tools, including JAWS, and can help check for some accessibility issues.