GW Digital Accessibility Committee Charter

Mission

Accessibility at GW is a shared responsibility managed through general oversight by the Digital Accessibility Committee (“DAC” or “committee”). This committee is established to monitor accessibility compliance in the distributed responsibility model. The committee will promote communication, coordination and collaboration among digital content creators, website owners/editors and technology subscription owners and licensees with the goal of creating an accessible digital presence. This committee will meet regularly to review quality assurance, address complaints or notices of non-compliance, and monitor of compliance with accessibility policies, local and federal laws and regulations.

Membership

• Offices of Ethics, Compliance, and Privacy (convener)
• Disability Support Services
• GW Information Technology
• Office of Communication and Marketing
• Libraries and Academic Innovation
• Human Resource Management and Development 
• Office of the Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Authority

The DAC is the custodian of GW’s Web and Digital Content Accessibility Policy which promotes the university’s commitment to comply with federal and local laws requiring accessibility and equal access to digital content on university websites, for individuals with disabilities. This includes, but is not limited to websites, social media content, digital course materials, video content, digital signage and any other university maintained digital content consumed using an electronic device. Through an established process,the DAC will assess and provide recommendations to senior leadership for implementation of inaccessible situations that are escalated.

General Responsibilities

• Guides the university’s efforts to move toward seamless access for all. Collaborates with university partners to address digital/web accessibility and the need for systematic changes; advising on compliance with technical requirements under the ADA guidelines.
• Ensures appropriate processes are in place to provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints and inquiries from staff, faculty and students, as well as the public regarding compliance with digital accessibility.
• Ensures appropriate processes are in place to evaluate and make undue burden decisions or establish equally effective alternatives access arrangements.
• Ensures appropriate processes are in place for auditing and remediating digital content for accessibility. The audits may be conducted in consultation with a third-party vendor and will be benchmarked by appropriate processes. Any deficiencies revealed by an audit will be remediated promptly or the digital content will be taken down until the deficiency is resolved. University academic and administrative units that own or maintain online content will be responsible for adhering to the university’s Web and Digital Content Accessibility Policy and monitoring the accessibility of the content they create.
• Ensures appropriate processes exist to maintain communication channels (e.g. this website) and resources and training programs.