|
Good morning,
Welcome to the first of what will be a recurring bi-weekly email providing updates, reminders, resources, and expectations related to the City of Columbus’ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance efforts. These updates are intended to keep everyone informed of current priorities, share helpful guidance, and ensure departments remain on track as we work toward full accessibility compliance.
Silktide Reporting
Beginning on July 28 departments will receive a Silktide report every two weeks. The current Progress Report will stop being sent. The Department Accessibility Overview will include:
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA score for pages and PDFs
- Broken links
Please take time to review your department's section on Columbus.gov and verify that the page count and content is accurate. If updates are needed, submit a TechDesk ticket so the necessary changes can be made.
If your department manages external websites that should be monitored, please submit a TechDesk ticket requesting those sites be added to Silktide so they can be included in future reporting.
Current Expectations
Departments are expected to:
- Stop introducing new non-compliant content. Any new content published online must meet accessibility requirements before it is posted.
- Ensure all social media posts are compliant.
Labor Day Goal
By Labor Day, every department's Columbus.gov section and all monitored external websites should achieve a minimum Silktide accessibility score of 70% and all broken links should be fixed.
Departments that have not reached this benchmark by Labor Day will be required to attend the weekly Office Hours on Accessibility until the minimum score has been achieved.
Updated Guidance on Accessibility Expectations
Please note the following updates regarding accessibility expectations:
- If content is made available online, such as documents and PDFs, it must meet the WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements, unless it is in a designated archive area.
- Given the extended compliance deadline, departments should focus on remediating all existing content to ensure accessibility.
- Previous considerations for undue burden are no longer valid. Departments should not rely on any undue burden exception previously approved by the City Attorney's Office.
- The submission process for new undue burden requests will restart in Q1 2027.
- Requests based primarily on the amount of staff time required to remediate content will not receive the same consideration going forward. Departments should take action now to address accessibility issues rather than delaying remediation.
Resources
The SharePoint ADA Digital Accessibility FAQ page has answers to common questions. We will continue to update and expand our FAQs as new topics arise. If you have questions that would benefit other departments, please send them our way so they can be included in future updates.
Have questions on WHAT needs to be compliant? Email ADAhelp@columbus.gov.
Have questions on HOW to make digital content compliant? Email techdesk@columbus.gov.
Weekly Office Hours on Accessibility are held on Wednesdays via Webex from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM. If you would like to receive the calendar invite, email Nicole Woodward.
The new ADA Digital Resource Center - Home is your go-to hub for helpful tools, important documents and the latest resources to support your efforts.
Additional resources can be found at Create Accessible Digital Products | Section508.gov.
Thank you for your continued partnership and commitment to making the City's digital content accessible to all users.
INTERNAL USE ONLY: This message and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed, and may contain private, confidential, and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your system.
|
