Accessibility

County Web Accessibility Policy

Revised July 30, 2020

1. Purpose:

The County of Tulare is committed to providing employees and the public, including individuals with disabilities, access to web-based information and services, either directly through the web or through alternative formats. This document states the Web Accessibility Policy for the County of Tulare in its continued commitment to provide equal access to government services for individuals with disabilities.

2. Authority:

County Public Information Officer

3. Scope: 

This policy applies to all County web content, whether centrally hosted and managed by Tulare County Information, Communications, and Technology, or hosted and managed by County agencies, departments, or external service providers. This policy applies to the presentation of information, whether it is from a web page or a web application on either the internet or the intranet. This policy does not apply to websites of affiliated groups, such as commissions, that are not controlled or hosted by the County. 

4. Policy: 

The County of Tulare strives to continually improve web accessibility by complying with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 §1194.22, as amended (29 U.S.C. Section 794d). County websites are designed based on standards from the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to make web content accessible to individuals with disabilities.

It is the responsibility of the department or agency webmaster to become familiar with these guidelines and to apply these standards in designing and creating any official County of Tulare website. Staff who update and maintain web page content must also ensure they are following these standards. To this end, staff assigned these roles will complete a training program including general information about accessibility standards as well as technical specifics applying to the tools and techniques involved in developing and maintaining the websites.

Departments that provide services through contracts shall ensure that such contractors deliver their services in compliance with the County of Tulare Web Accessibility Policy. 

  Each department or agency shall post a link to the County Web Accessibility Statement.

5. Availability of Information:

Each website must provide a contact method for users to report items or areas that are not accessible and request reasonable accommodations. 

6. Known Limitations of This Policy:

Individuals with (or without) disabilities access the web with widely varying sets of capabilities, software, and hardware. While this policy identifies the standard for County departments to present information so it is accessible for individuals with disabilities, this policy cannot anticipate every accessibility need, due to limitations of existing technology. There may be other circumstances, independent of technology, that may limit accessibility of County websites. While every effort will be made, it is understood that creating accessible formats for some historical documentation and graphical renderings maintained by the County may be technologically unfeasible.

7. Review:

• Biennially

8. References:

• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 §1194.22, as amended (29 U.S.C. Sec 794d)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)