Accessibility Plan & Annual Review Process
Logan University is a recipient of federal funds and falls under ADA Title II / Section 504. The DOJ's web guidance (ada.gov) points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the working standard. This appendix documents how the new Logan.edu will meet that bar at launch and stay there as regulations evolve.
The conformance level DOJ cites as the practical benchmark for state, local, and public-serving institutions under the 2024 Title II rule.
DOJ Title II web accessibility compliance deadline for public entities with 50,000+ population. Logan operates clinics and public-facing content that fall under this scope.
Standards are tracked, the site is re-audited, and a written remediation plan is delivered each year — included in any managed services tier.
Built-in at launch (no brand impact)
These are markup, semantics, and keyboard fixes that ship with the rebuild. No design conversation required.
- Meaningful alt text on every content image; alt="" on decorative imagery
- Decorative icons marked aria-hidden so screen readers don't double-announce
- Captions and transcripts required for any embedded video
- Logical heading order (one H1 per page, no skipped levels)
- Full keyboard navigation across all interactive elements
- Visible focus-ring on every link, button, and form field
- Skip-to-content link at the top of every page
- prefers-reduced-motion honored on hover and scroll animations
- Focus trapping + Escape-to-close on modals and the chatbot
- lang="en" on the document root
- Visible labels on every form field (not placeholder-only)
- Consistent navigation and link naming across pages
- Plain-language error messages with recovery instructions
- Semantic HTML — real <button>, <nav>, <main>, <header>, <footer>
- Radix UI primitives for menus, dialogs, popovers (ARIA-correct by default)
- aria-label on icon-only controls
- aria-live regions for streamed AI responses and toast notifications
Brand-affecting decisions (needs sign-off)
These are the items where compliance touches color, typography, or visual feel. The palette stays; values shift to meet the 4.5:1 body / 3:1 large-text contrast threshold.
| # | Issue | Proposed change | Brand impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Low-opacity white text (white/50–white/65) on dark heroes falls below 4.5:1 | Raise opacity floor to /75 for body, /85 for small caps labels | Negligible — same color, slightly more solid |
| 02 | Logan green --secondary at hsl(86 70% 42%) with navy text fails AA for body copy (~3.4:1) | Darken to hsl(86 70% 30%) behind small text, or force white foreground on green buttons | Slightly deeper green — same family |
| 03 | Accent cyan eyebrow text on white is ~3.1:1, below AA for normal size | Darken eyebrow token to hsl(199 100% 32%), or bump to 14px semibold (qualifies as large text) | Eyebrows read deeper / slightly larger |
| 04 | Focus ring (cyan) is invisible against dark navy hero sections | Add 2px white outer + 2px cyan inner ring utility for keyboard focus on dark backgrounds | Only visible on keyboard focus |
| 05 | Supporting body copy at text-xs (12px) is below recommended low-vision floor | Bump body paragraphs (not chips/badges) to text-sm (14px) | Slight increase in vertical space |
| 06 | Yellow CTA on navy already passes (~10:1) | No change required | None |
Annual review process
Web accessibility law is a moving target — DOJ updated Title II guidance in 2024, WCAG 2.2 is now stable, and WCAG 3.0 is in active draft. This is the yearly cadence Elevated Leads will run for Logan.
- Q1Regulatory scan
Review ADA.gov updates, DOJ technical assistance bulletins, OCR (Dept. of Education) Section 504 settlements, and any new WCAG version. Document any changes that affect higher-ed sites with clinical services.
- Q2Automated audit
Run axe-core + Lighthouse against the top 100 trafficked URLs and all template archetypes (program page, college landing, faculty profile, news article, clinic page). Export a delta report vs the prior year.
- Q3Manual + assistive-tech audit
Keyboard-only walkthrough of the 10 highest-intent conversion paths. Screen-reader spot checks (NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS/iOS). Color-contrast re-test against any brand updates.
- Q4Written remediation plan + sign-off
Deliver a prioritized fix list (Critical / Serious / Moderate / Advisory), a brand-impact memo for anything touching color or type, and a target completion date. Logan signs the plan; Elevated Leads executes in the following quarter.
A full re-audit is also triggered when DOJ issues a new rule, a brand refresh changes color or type tokens, a major template is added (e.g., a new College), or a complaint is received under Title II / Section 504.
References
Include accessibility in the SOW?
The launch build meets WCAG 2.1 AA. The annual review is bundled into any managed services tier.