The International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI)
Accessibility Statement issued on November 8, 2002

To assist in the implementation of accessible web design features, the County of Santa Clara e-Government Project engaged The International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI) to provide review, quality assurance and accessibility oversight services.  This initiative sought to address public portal accessibility for the widest possible audience, including individuals with disabilities, in order to provide outstanding service to all customers.  As a result of this effort, this Accessibility Statement highlights the design and implementation features that meet federal and international industry standards for accessible web design.

Three Accessibility Checkpoint Reviews were conducted during the web site development to determine conformance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG)  as well as the federal technical standards for accessible web design published by the U.S. Access Board.  In addition, an Accessibility Review was conducted on two pilot online applications for Foster/Adoptive Parenting and Contracting Principles Compliance.

This Accessibility Statement is based upon a final review of a representative sample of 30 pages from the public portal as of November 8, 2002 and does not address content posted after that date and not tested.  In addition, this statement is based upon our analysis and the documented self-assessment performed by the web development team.

The International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI) finds that the County of Santa Clara public portal satisfies the majority of the Priority Level 1 Checkpoints of the W3C WCAG.  ICDRI also finds that additional rules were implemented from both Priority Levels 2 and 3 Checkpoints of the W3C WCAG.  In addition, the public portal also satisfies the majority of the federal technical standards for accessible web design as set forth in the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards published by the U.S. Access Board at 36 CFR Part 1194.
  
ICDRI especially commends the County of Santa Clara for the many accessibility features implemented on the portal such as:

• Providing a clean and crisp design with complimentary graphics;
• Ensuring consistent navigation structure and overall design;
• Providing a public portal Site Map;
• Avoiding the use of Frames, Image Maps and Flash in order to maximize accessibility;
• Using Alt Attributes by providing meaningful information for screen readers and text browsers;
• Ensuring that any information conveyed with color is also available without color;
• Enabling web page visitors to increase or decrease the web page font size;
• Addressing linearization of web page content so that reading order is logical for users of screen readers and other assistive computer technology;
• Improving font and background color contrast for visitors with low vision and users of monitors and Internet devices with black and white screens;
• Providing navigation bars for access to the navigation mechanism;
• Enabling logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects; and
• Identifying English as the natural language of the public portal to improve accessibility for assistive technologies, search engines and foreign language translation software.

In conjunction with the launch of the public portal, a County of Santa Clara Web Accessibility Policy is being developed for recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.  The Web Accessibility Policy and accompanying procedures will assist in countywide implementation of the accessibility features of this public portal.  As a result, the County of Santa Clara Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan will be updated to include this policy to address “effective communication” issues and the need to provide accessible electronic documents to individuals with disabilities. 

Web site visitors are welcome to provide any feedback on the accessibility and usability of the public portal by emailing the County Webmaster at mailto:[email protected]