Guiding Principles for Accessible Digital Content
“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire
the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services
as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner,
with substantially equivalent ease of use. The person with a disability must be able
to obtain the information as fully, equally and independently as a person without
a disability.
- Office for Civil Rights, Department of Education
P.O.U.R.
It is important that our digital content - whether it be a webpage, an electronic video, or digital media - be accessible to all individuals. The technical standards UND should strive to meet are WCAG 2.1 AA. While you don't have to be familiar with the details of this standard, it is helpful to keep in mind the four principles of WCAG as you create content. The principles are: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, or P.O.U.R.
When creating digital content or incorporating digital content into a course or webpage, you should ask whether that content is P.O.U.R.
Perceivable
Information and user interface components must be presented in ways users can perceive regardless of ability or disability. For information on a website to be perceivable, it has to be capable of transforming from one form to another. For example, information conveyed visually via color should also be indicated in another way, such as by text.
Operable
People should be able to navigate through the content and use interactive elements regardless of whether they are using a mouse, keyboard, or assistive technology.
Understandable
Content and operations should be clear to all users, with consistent layout and predictable behavior. For example, individuals should be able to easily identify links and understand what happens when they click them.
Robust
Web content should be robust enough to be interpreted by a wide variety of users, including those who use assistive technology or those using a different web browser.