Student Services

Student Success Center

TRiO Student Support Services

ADA Compliance

ADA / Section 508 Accessibility Resources

Federal Compliance

Making Documents Accessible

Illinois Compliance

Video Captioning for Accessibility

Checking the Accessibility of Your Webpage

General Social Media Accessibility Tips

  1. Make your contact information available on your social media account page. List a primary phone number and email address where a user can reach you or your division with questions, or provide a link to the college website that lists the appropriate contact information.
  2. Add captions to photos to ensure that individuals will understand what is going on in the picture. The captions do not need to be very long, but they should describe what the scene is, and how elements of the image appear and provide context for the image.
  3. Videos posted to social media should be uploaded to a YouTube Channel to allow closed-captioning. Since YouTube automatic captioning can be inaccurate, prepare an accurate transcript and upload it whenever possible. A link to the YouTube video can be included as a status update, rather than uploading the video to Facebook. This will ensure that visitors will be taken to an accessible video with captioning. Note: Non-educational videos do not need closed captioning or transcripts. 
  4. Learn the accessibility requirements and periodically test your content for accessibility. Read the Section 508 Standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and other key resources that discuss them. Then test your social media content with a screen reader or other type of assistive technology.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 19% of undergraduates have a disability.

As a result, many colleges and universities are working to offer equivalent access to electronic and information technology to their students.

Section 508 guidelines provide minimum standards for web accessibility. While not all institutions are legally required to adopt Section 508 standards, many find that building compliant websites is beneficial.

Eliminating barriers is an important part of online accessibility. As students and parents navigate our website, we want them be able to get the information they need. By improving our website’s Section 508 compliance, the College can reach more students and parents.

The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act  (IITAA) requires Illinois agencies and universities to ensure that their web sites, information systems,

and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

While the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act already require the State to ensure accessibility,

the IITAA establishes specific standards and encourages the State to address accessibility proactively.