The Web Accessibliity Policy for this site is as follows
The following links of the site have access keys:
A Web Accessibility Policy gives a company the opportunity to explain the accessibility features if their site to there customers. Having a Web Accessibility Policy also helps to cover a company against any legal liability should a user try to sue a company because their web site is inaccessible. Having an accessibility policy on a web site shows that the web developer/or company to whom that sites belongs have a commitment to Web Accessibility. Having a Web Accessibility Policy can also assist web developers when they are developing future pages or maintaining existing pages, because the Web Accessibility Policy will give them a template for developing web pages.
It is recommended that a group within a company be assigned to creating a Web Accessibility Policy. It is then this groups responsibility to oversee the implementation of the Web Accessibility Policy. The group will be responsible for many tasks is relation to the Web Accessibility Policy, this includes a timetable for implemented various elements of the policy e.g. a timetable for making all archived pages on the website accessible.
It is recommended that a Web Accessibility Policy be concise. Various pieces of information can be included in the Web Accessibility Policy. For example the standard that the web pages on the site conform to, any access keys that the site has, any navigational aids that the site has e.g. next and previous buttons, if there are problems with links e.g. are any links duplicated, do any links open a new window without warning, instruction about how to enlarge or resize the page, do all images have alt text and any pages or sections that do not meet that standard e.g. a web developer may not want to make archived web pages accessible because they feel it would take them far too much time. Certain pages may not meet all of the guidelines of the WCAG standard that the pages on the site meet e.g. a page may contain a media player file that is not accessible. In this case it is also recommended that some sort of explanation be provided as to why certain pages on the site do not meet the specified accessibility standard. In some cases a web developer may intend to makes these pages accessible at a later date, if so then this should be mentioned in the accessibility policy. It is recommended that an indication of the timescale for making these pages fully accessible also be included.
It is recommended that a link to the Web Accessibility Policy be placed on the homepage of the site. In some cases it may be necessary to write different versions of the accessibility policy. If different versions of an accessibility policy are required then it is recommended that an accessibility policy link be included on each page that links to the accessibility policy for that page. There are a number of reasons why more than one accessibility policy maybe required, for example a company may require an accessibility policy for new pages and an accessibility policy for archived pages. Where an accessibility policy links exists it is recommended that an access key (keyboard shortcut) and a tab index for the accessibility policy link.
It is recommended that an email address (e.g. [email protected]) be included somewhere within the Web Accessibility Policy (this is often included at the beginning), so that users can report any comments about the accessibility of the site or any problems that they have had accessing content on the site can be reported to the website maintenance team.
There may be other things that a company may feel that they need to add to there Web Accessibility Policy, such as policies relating to text only versions of the site. This type of information and other information that a company feels is relevant can be added to the Web Accessibility Policy. This page was designed to give the reader some examples of that of information that could be included as part of Web Accessibility Policy.
This article fully describes the University of Wisconsin Web Accessibility Policy as well as the process that the university followed to develop it. Meanwhile a smaller example of a Web Accessibility Policy can be found at the State of Connecticut website.