Virginia Tech® home

Webpage Accessibility

Access Policies

University policy requires that websites be accessible to people with disabilities. The following link lists the benefits of using accessibility standards and guidelines based on U.S. law (Section 508 Standards) and international guidelines (WCAG and ARIA), as well as the benefits of assistive technologies.

Read more at assist.vt.edu

Standards and Guidelines

There are many points of reference for why webpages (and the media contained within them) need to be assible.  Accessible Technologies has put together a comprehensive listing of laws, policies, and industry standards that impact web accessibility. 

Accessible Technologies Documentation
More Information on Laws and Regulations

Training and Tutorials

Virginia Tech's Accessible Technologies group provides regular workshops on topics related to assistive technologies and web and document accessibility, most often offered through the university's Professional Development Network, but also delivered to targeted audiences, separately. 

Additionally, there are training opportunities through LinkedIn Learning, Google, and more.

View Full Listing of Trainig Information

Web Accessibility Tools

Accessibility Checker

Provides various guides regarding ADA, Section 508, accessibility technical specs from Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) (websites), documents, media, mobile apps, and tools  to check website accessibility, color contrast ratios, and PDF accessibility (coming soon).

Learn More About The Checker

ARC Toolkit

A chrome extension that allows you to scan a website page on-demand and get a comprehensive list of WCAG failures, including in-line remediation tips. 

Learn More About ARC

Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE)

WAVE® is a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. WAVE can identify many accessibility and WCAG errors, but also facilitates human evaluation of web content. Our philosophy is to focus on issues that we know impact end users, facilitate human evaluation, and to educate about web accessibility.

Go to the WAVE Website

Sa11y

Sa11y visually highlights content issues at the source with a simple tooltip on how to fix them.  You can add the page to your browser's bookmarks and then click the bookmark on any page you wish to scan. 

Learn More About Sa11y

Additional Tool Documentation from assist.vt.edu