City of Charlotte Web and Digital Accessibility Policy
Statement of Purpose and Governing Standards
The City of Charlotte is committed to ensuring all forms of communication are accessible to all people. The City’s intent is to maintain its website(s) and applications to meet and/or exceed requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”). The city recognizes that this effort is ongoing, and pledges to continuously strive to meet all levels of accessibility conformance and providing guidelines to online and digital content generators and managers.
The CharlotteNC.gov platform incorporates compliance standards set forth in federally-mandated 508C, and best practices recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG. 2.0) to provide web accessibility.
Applicability
This policy applies to all digital content published by all City departments, divisions and third parties, and is intended for webmasters, web authors, developers, content contributors and contractors responsible for creating and/or maintaining web and digital sites, pages, documents and applications.
Communications and ADA Accommodations
Questions, comments and suggestions
ADA Coordinator
311
Grievance Procedure under the Americans with Disabilities Act
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that public entities adopt and publish grievance procedures to assure the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints. The purpose of this ADA grievance procedure is to resolve as promptly as possible any problems, complaints, or conflicts related to the City’s ADA compliance without the need for the complainant to resort to other remedies available under the law.
Website Design and Accessibility
CharlotteNC.gov and all City of Charlotte sites will be designed to reduce barriers to content for visitors to deliver an all-inclusive and accessible experience. The CharlotteNC.gov platform incorporates compliance standards set forth in federally-mandated 508C, and best practices recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG. 2.1) to provide web accessibility.
Some design and content standards examples:
- Easy and logical navigation
- Access to information in a clear and consistent manner for screen readers
- Keyboard accessibility
- Legible fonts and high-contrast colors for easier readability
- Text-alternative fields for non-text elements (e.g. images)
- Information conveyed with color can also be understood without color
- Content presented without an associated style sheet does not lose information or structure
- “Skip to main content” link at the top of each page, permitting users to skip repetitive navigation links
- Online forms allow assistive technology to access information, field elements and functionality required to complete and submit forms, including directions and cues
Definitions and resources
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990
In 1990 Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are five titles as part of the ADA. Title II prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by public entities.
508C
Section 508 is a federal law mandating all electronic and information technology that is developed, purchased, used or maintained by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 was an amendment to the United States Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The W3C as it is often referred to is an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1)
These guidelines define how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning and neurological disabilities.