The Information and Communication Environment

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The Information and Communication Environment

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This environment examines how information is created, shared, and received throughout the institution. It includes websites, digital resources, printed materials, emails, forms, marketing and recruitment materials, signage, social media, audiovisual media, emergency communications, public presentations, policies, and other methods used to communicate with students, employees, applicants, visitors, and members of the public. It also includes the availability of communication supports such as captioning, interpreting, alternative formats, and assistive technologies. The focus is on the institution’s capacity to ensure that information and communication are accessible to everyone.

Organizational Capacity Assessment

Before diving into the resources here, you may want to consider taking the following assessment. It will assist you thinking about your campus as a whole in terms of its maturity level when it comes to providing accessible and inclusive instruction.

Take the Information and Communication Organizational Capacity Assessment

Guidelines for Improving Access to Information and Communication

Creating an accessible campus requires organizational capacity across every campus environment. Accessible information and communication ensure that students, employees, applicants, visitors, and members of the public can obtain, understand, and use institutional information regardless of disability.

The following guidelines can help institutions strengthen their organizational capacity for accessible information and communication.

Leadership and Commitment

Make accessible information and communication an institutional priority.
Demonstrate commitment to ensuring institutional information is accessible across all communication formats.
Include disabled people and individuals with expertise in accessibility when making decisions related to institutional communications, technology, publications, and information resources.
Promote proactive accessibility planning rather than relying on reactive accommodations.
Encourage innovation and continuous improvement in accessible communication practices.

Communication

Regularly communicate the institution’s commitment to accessible information and communication.
Include accessibility expectations in institutional communications, strategic plans, and organizational priorities.
Ensure accessibility responsibilities are communicated to faculty, staff, student employees, contractors, and vendors.
Promote accessibility as a shared institutional responsibility rather than the responsibility of a single office or department.

Assessment and Accountability

Establish processes for assessing the accessibility of institutional information and communication.
Collect meaningful data regarding the accessibility of websites, digital resources, publications, forms, multimedia, and other communication methods.
Use assessment findings to establish priorities and guide institutional planning.
Monitor progress over time and use data to support continuous improvement.

Resource Allocation

Allocate sufficient financial, technological, and human resources to support accessible information and communication.
Plan proactively for accessibility when developing new communication methods, technologies, and publications.
Invest in tools, technologies, and personnel that improve accessibility across the institution.
Provide sustainable resources that support ongoing accessibility efforts.

Knowledge and Skills

Ensure employees responsible for creating, managing, and distributing institutional information have knowledge of accessible design practices.
Provide ongoing professional development related to accessibility standards, accessible document creation, multimedia accessibility, plain language, and emerging technologies.
Encourage collaboration among communications professionals, web developers, instructional designers, disability resource professionals, librarians, and information technology staff.
Maintain institutional expertise that keeps pace with evolving accessibility standards and best practices.

Policies and Procedures

Develop coordinated policies that establish expectations for accessible information and communication.
Include accessibility requirements within policies related to websites, digital resources, publications, procurement, marketing, and public communications.
Establish procedures that support consistent implementation of accessibility requirements.
Regularly review and update policies to reflect changes in technology, legal requirements, and best practices.

Training and Consultation

Provide regular professional development on accessible information and communication practices.
Integrate information about accessibility into onboarding, faculty development, communications training, and technology training.
Ensure faculty and staff know where to obtain consultation and assistance related to accessible communication.
Provide access to personnel with expertise in accessibility across multiple organizational units.

Campus Culture

Promote the understanding that ensuring accessible information and communication is everyone’s responsibility.
Foster a campus culture that values accessibility as an essential component of effective communication.
Encourage departments to proactively identify and remove communication barriers.
Recognize that accessible communication benefits all members of the campus community.

Operational Practices

Institutions should establish practices that support accessible information and communication throughout the organization.

Examples include:

Routinely monitoring institutional websites using automated accessibility tools and conducting human accessibility evaluations.
Including accessibility requirements within purchasing and procurement processes for technology, software, and communication resources.
Prioritizing accessibility knowledge in positions responsible for communications, marketing, web development, and digital content management.
Ensuring personnel responsible for procurement understand how to request, interpret, and evaluate Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs).
Providing captions and transcripts for videos used in instruction, marketing, public communication, and institutional events.
Ensuring employment applications and other critical online processes are accessible to individuals using assistive technologies.
Providing methods for requesting alternative formats of printed materials.
Making institutional forms, publications, and documents available in accessible digital formats.
Encouraging the use of plain language principles for communications intended for broad audiences.
Following accessible communication practices for institutional emails, newsletters, announcements, and other routine communications.
Providing communication supports, such as sign language interpreting, CART services, alternative formats, and assistive technologies, when needed to ensure effective communication.
Considering accessibility whenever new information, publications, websites, communication platforms, or technologies are developed or acquired.

Continuous Improvement

Organizations with mature information and communication accessibility programs:

Integrate accessibility into all institutional communication practices
Proactively evaluate information and communication for accessibility
Invest in staff expertise and ongoing professional development
Align policies, practices, and procurement with accessibility goals
Provide consistent consultation and support across departments
Continually improve systems to ensure information and communication are accessible to everyone