2023-2024 UCLA Web Accessibility Initiative Extension (UWAIX)

A computer monitor depicting icons representing accessibility and different disabilities

The UWAIX Program

The UCLA Web Accessibility Initiative Extension’s (UWAIX) is a year-long extension (2023-2024) of the UWAI mission values of digital accessibility and equity for all and includes new, well-informed and optimized objectives:  

Professional Schools and College Division Websites

The UCLA Web Accessibility Initiative Steering Committee has chosen to pursue the HTML remediation of the websites for the UCLA professional schools and college divisions.  They will be prioritized in order of need and resources.

UCLA Branded and Accessible Website Development Resources

The DCP is partnering with StratComm and ITS to create resources to enable campus entities to create on-brand and accessible UCLA-related websites.  More information on this project coming soon!

Vetting Accessible Web Development Vendors with UCLA Purchasing

We will continue our fruitful partnership with UCLA Purchasing and Procurement in improving and maintaining our accessibility vetting process for web vendors and web development contracts on our campus to ensure web compliance inline with the University of California Terms and Conditions of Purchase, articles 6.D and 6.E.

Article 6 Subsection D:  Accessibility Requirements

Supplier warrants that:

  1. It complies with California and federal disabilities laws and regulations; and
  2. The Goods and Services will conform to the accessibility requirements of WCAG 2.0 AA.
  3. Supplier agrees to promptly respond to and resolve any complaint regarding accessibility of its Goods and/or Services

Voluntary Siteimprove Enrollment for all UCLA Websites 

The DCP will continue to facilitate and administrate the voluntary enrollment of campus sites into the system-wide automated accessibility checker, Siteimprove.  We will make ourselves available upon request to help departments interpret the results and develop remediation action plans.

BruinLearn Ally Tool Project

The DCP is excited to expand our resources into supporting accessible developments and designs in the BruinLearn LMS space.  The campus has recently implemented a tool called Ally to gather data around accessibility in the LMS.  After the data gathering stage is complete, the DCP and other stakeholders will develop a project plan for how to improve this environment. Stay tuned!

The UWAIX Program Student Core

The UWAIX Program takes great pride in our efficient, effective, and passionate student core.  Their contributions to our department and community are invaluable.  Our current teams' names and positions are below (alphabetical by last name):

Peter Agban - Lead Accessibility Engineer & PDF Remediation Lead

Arezo Ahmadi - Social Media and Outreach Coordinator

Kate Burcham - VR/AR Lab Accessibility Engineer

Saige Carter - Products Accessibility Engineer

Melissa Chang - Products Accessibility Tester

Alyssa Lung - Ally Data Lead

Katie Osborn - Accessibility Engineer Training Program (AETP) Lead

Nicholas Shinghal - Front-End Web Accessibility Engineer

Catarina Gerges - Video Creation Lead (Intern)

Alex Velikanov - Back-End Web Accessibility Engineer

 

The Original UCLA Web Accessibility Initiative (UWAI) Successes

From 2019 to 2022, the original UCLA Web Accessibility Initiative (UWAI) took place. The successes included:

  • Remediating 37 high-profile UCLA websites to WCAG 2.0
  • Incorporating accessibility criteria in the UCLA Purchasing and Procurement process through the SNOW Triage (with Security and Privacy)
  • Remediating over 35,000 pages of UCLA documents
  • Enrolling 300+ websites into Siteimprove (a digital accessibility crawler)
  • Facilitating a continued training program on digital accessibility basics, digital accessibility testing, HTML accessibility, document remediation, education accessibility, universal design and pedagogy, and disability allyship and culture

For more details, please visit the original UWAI webpage.