Technical Accessibility Standards

Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi follows the technical accessibility standards for Electronic and Information Resources (EIR) stated in Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapters 206 and 213. These align with U.S. Section 508, which include conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA standards and additional requirements in TAC. Even if the EIR is not web-based, many of the WCAG success criteria cover other EIR. See References below for details on the technical accessibility standards.

Free training on digital accessibility

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides many free training resources. The Accessibility Fundamentals section is a great starting point. The Digital Accessibility Foundations Free Online Course is available on edX. It is self-paced with an average completion of four (4) weeks if you study four-to-five (4-5) hours per week. You can come back to this resource at any time.

The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) provides free training to both state agencies/universities and companies. DIR contracted with Level Access for 2023 for vendors. Companies can contact statewideaccessibility@dir.texas.gov with the names and email addresses of the people who need access to the vendor-focused training portal.

Conformance

To be in conformance with accessibility standards, all content on all sections of the website, application, or document must be in conformance with accessibility standards. Therefore,

• If 99 pages of a website are in conformance but 1 page is not, the website is not in conformance.
• If all web pages of a website are in conformance but the documents are not, the website is not in conformance.

References

Federal and International Guidelines

• Under U.S. Section 508, federal agencies and many entities receiving federal funding follow: Worldwide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0, Level AA conformance (WCAG 2.0 AA)
• WCAG 2.1 Adoption in Europe (W3C)
• Additional W3C accessibility standards are available for authoring tools and user agents.
• Plain language explanations of WCAG

State Rules and Guidelines

• Technical Accessibility Standards
  • Software Applications and Operating Systems (TAC §213.30) (includes websites and web applications)
  • Websites (TAC §206.70)
  • Telecommunications Products (TAC §213.31)
  • Video and Multimedia Products (TAC §213.32) (includes those products hosted on websites and web applications)
  • Hardware (TAC §213.33) (includes desktop and portable computers)
• Standards for all Electronic and Information Resources (EIR)
  • Functional Performance Criteria (TAC §213.35)
  • Support Documentation and Services (TAC §213.36)
• Procurement Review Process
  • Compliance Exceptions and Exemptions (TAC §213.37)
  • Procurements (TAC §213.38)