In 2003, the California State Legislature amended Government Code 11135 to require CSU to implement Section 508 of the American Disabilities Act and to apply federal accessibility standards to the electronic and information technology (EIT) products and services that CSU buys, creates, uses and maintains.

CMS is committed to meeting Federal Section 508 guidelines, and has established the CMS Accessible Technology Operating Principles, which include a commitment to:

• Promote Awareness, Training and Communication
• Define Baseline Development Standards  
• Provide Development Assessment Tools
• Deliver Accessible Web Pages and Documentation
• Implement Procedures for Interim Accommodation

CMS Campus ATI Group

CMS has established an ATI Representative group with members from each campus to work together to report and resolve issues with the CMS applications. Please visit the link to obtain a roster of members.

 

Accessibility Resources

CSUCO Accessible Technology Initiative

The Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) reflects the California State University's (CSU) ongoing commitment to provide access to information resources and technologies to individuals with disabilities.

Watch Video: ATI Director, Deborah Kaplan talks about the CSU ATI Initiative.

CMS works closely with the central team to discover effective approaches for supporting accessibility standards. Numerous resources are posted to the CSU ATI Website, including links to Federal guidelines, systemwide initiatives, and training opportunities. Links to the Campus ATI Websites are also provided.

Oracle Accessibility Program

CMS works closely with Oracle, the provider of our Financials, Human Resources, and Campus Solutions products to ensure that the delivered product software meets accessibility standards, and to apply their published development standards to the CMS Baseline.

• Oracle Accessibility Program
  Link to the Oracle website accessibility program information
• Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT)
  Lists the Oracle Product Accessibility Status for each bullet of the Section 508 requirements.
  

Development Standards

• Developing for Performance and Accessibility
  Application Developer People Books: Chapter 8

• Oracle White Paper on Accessibility
  Includes instructions to turn on accessibility features within the Campus Solutions, Finance, and Human Resources applications.

Tools

The following tools are those currently under implementation within CMS for testing accessibility.

AccVerify

AccVerify is classified as a "code crawler" and can check html coding for omissions that work against subsets of acccessibility standards (i.e. untagged images, unlabeled data columns, etc.) The CSU has purchased a systemwide license for AccVerify, and a representative has been established as primary contact for each campus.

• Campus AccVerify Contacts (xls)
• AccVerify Demo (.wmv)

Testing Toolbars

Free toolbars can be downloaded to work with Internet Explorer and/or Firefox that simulate how accessibility tools "see" web pages. Multiple free products are available; the ones listed below are those commonly utilized by the CSU Accessibility Initiative team.

• Firefox Web Browser with Accessibility Add On (Illinois ToolBar)
• Click Speak
• Zoom Text - Trial Version
• Jaws - Demonstration Version

Training

The following links are resources that can be utilized to obtain training. This list will continue to be updated as additional assistive technologies and approaches are identified and refined.

General Awareness

• Assistive Technologies for Physical Disabilities
  General introduction to the issues surrounding technologies for persons with physical disabilities.
• From Where I Sit
  A powerful video series of eight CSU students with disabilities who share their experiences in the college classroom.

Procurement

Training resources for those responsible for writing RFPs and contracts for the procurement of technology and techology-based services.

• CSU Accessible Electronic and Information Technology (E&IT) Procurement

Development

The user interface between the Oracle/PeopleSoft tools/development environment and the end user is html code (web pages) - and thus - web development standards apply. To better understand the application of web development standards within Oracle's development platform, CSU ATI Initiative personnel are currently working with CMS and the website will be updated with new information as it is obtained. In the meantime, the following materials provide a sound foundation of concepts that all developers need to know for understanding accessibility requirements.

• 508 In Depth
• Web Aim Section 508 Checklist
• Software Accessibility Guidelines

Documentation

The following training resources are available to teach the concepts for producing accessible CMS documentation.

• Adobe Acrobat .pdf files
• Microsoft Word
• Powerpoint