Web Accessibility Standards Increasing

Federal standards for web accessibility in higher ed are becoming even more stringent. On April 24, the Department of Justice finalized a new rule outlining requirements to ensure all web content is accessible to people with disabilities. This rule will apply to public universities and would set the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the standard for compliance.

The web team is taking a variety of measures to make sure the UNCW website complies with these regulations and serves all audiences.

• We are happy to report that we were able to partner with a vendor to remediate PDFs remaining in Cascade after the new site was launched in May 2023. Leadership approved use of one-time funds to make those documents accessible. ITS will replace older documents in web folders with the accessible versions.
• Courses are available to help content managers learn to make documents accessible.
• Any additional PDFs must go through review by the web team to determine that they are accessible and that there is no preferable solution, such as transferring content to webpages.
• The website design and components are built to be accessible and responsive.  
• Photo review processes ensure that all images have appropriate alternative text.