Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) is committed to making its information and communication technologies accessible to all individuals by meeting or exceeding the requirements of Section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and any other relevant state and local laws. Section 508 is a federal law that requires agencies to provide individuals with disabilities access to electronic and information technology and data comparable to those who do not have disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.
Electronic Information Technology
Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) is committed to ensuring equal access to "electronic information technology" or "EIT" resources to reach the widest possible audience with our:
- Information technologies
- Applications (installed or cloud)
- Web content and information
- Online instructional content
To increase the accessibility and usability of our web presence FSW's target is for new content created after July 2016 to utilize principles of universal design and modern Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0, Level AA Conformance (WCAG 2.0 Level AA). The College utilizes an automated system to audit public-facing website content against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, further manual review is performed to address additional content changes.
Procurement of new and existing electronic resources requires a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or similar conformance documentation to ensure the product is compliant with the needs of the College and is vetted through the Office of Information Technology and the Office of the Vice President of Operations/CFO before purchase/contracting/renewal.
While reasonable access is presently available we recognize that legacy content produced before July 2016 may not be compliant to referenced standards and will remediate or provide an equivalent alternative format as necessary if reported to the Office of Information Technology. Legacy content would include but is not limited to the following:
- Documents and pages stored and accessible through FSW's main website https://www.fsw.edu/
- Documents stored and accessible through FSW's Document Manager (docs.fsw.edu) repository as this content is uploaded by numerous individuals.
- Canvas course content loaded by instructors after the designed shell has been released from the Office of eLearning.
- Third party websites linked to by instructors/departments through the college's LMS and main website.
If issues are discovered with FSW's electronic information technology, then please contact the FSW Helpdesk (please keep the subject line of "EIT Issue" when writing the email to ensure proper routing) with as much of the following information:
- Name
- FSW Affiliation (if applicable)
- FSW Identification Number (if applicable)
- Where the issue happened
- Provide the web address(es)
- Error message received
- Describe the issue in detail
- What assistive technology, operating system, web browser, and other technical details can be provided to replicate the issue?
The FSW Helpdesk will forward these emails to the Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Specialist for review. Additional violation reports and EIT Accessibility inquiries or concerns may be directed to the Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Specialist.
Accessibility Working Committee
The College's Accessibility Working Committee is established to oversee and support compliance with the Accessibility of Electronic Information Technology and physical Accessibility. The committee is a part of the overall Office of Information Technology (OIT) Governance, and it is responsible for:
- Enabling compliance with all Accessibility Policies
- Defining any changes to the standards set forth in this document in accordance with applicable legal and legislative changes
- Enabling the College-wide processes to ensure that the standards set forth in this document are met in a reasonable amount of time
- Identifying potential gaps in Accessibility compliance, and defining further policies, procedures, standards, processes, and guidelines to remediate the gaps
- Developing training sessions related to disability awareness, EIT Accessibility best practices, and other related topics as deemed necessary to meet professional development needs.
Decisions made by the Accessibility Working Committee and approved by OIT Governance will be incorporated into relevant College rules, processes and policies.
College Policy
For all of the "College's students, staff or faculty members, or other members of the College community" the following policies apply:
College Operating Procedure 01-0104 - Disability Accommodation and Prohibition of Harassment (PDF) The ADA, Section 504 and their implementing federal regulations prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. As provided by law, Florida SouthWestern State College prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. In addition, the College provides individuals with disabilities with equal employment and educational opportunities and with reasonable accommodations.
College Operating Procedure 05-0107 - Unlawful Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation (PDF) Florida SouthWestern State College (College) is committed to providing an environment free from unlawful harassment based on such factors as race, sex, gender identity, age, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information or veteran's status. The College, as a matter of policy and in compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, and the Florida Education Equity Act, absolutely opposes and prohibits any act of unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
History
Created: 8/14/2020, Reviewed: 5/18/2022.