ISSS Accessibility Statement

In line with our mission of bringing the world to Penn, we want everyone who visits the ISSS website to feel welcome and find the experience rewarding.

What are we doing?

To help make the ISSS website a positive place for everyone, we use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. These guidelines explain how organizations can make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, and user friendly for everyone. The guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA and AAA). Based on the purpose of our site, ISSS has been advised to work toward Level AA for our website.

How are we doing?

The work is underway to achieve this target, but we realize there are some areas that still need improvement. The following information explains what we're doing to realize this plan, which will be complete by December 1, 2020. 

  • Site functionality and maintenance
    ISSS is both keyboard and screen reader accessible. Our site’s code was created and maintained by an external agency and has recently gone through a remediation project to correct inaccessible features.
  • Prerecorded video and audio
    While we are prioritizing providing captions and transcripts for all newly posted multimedia, we are also working towards providing these necessary components to existing multimedia. 
  • Live video or events
    Live multimedia is streamed primarily through BlueJeans Events, which provides an automated captioning service. For events streamed through platforms such as Zoom, a live captioner will be provided upon request. Simultaneous interpretation to non-English languages will also be considered where there is substantial need.
  • Electronic documents
    While we are prioritizing remediating electronic documents, such as PDFs, for all newly posted multimedia, we are also auditing our existing electronic documents and updating them to ensure the greatest level of technical accessibility.

Existing content prioritization

Our prioritization to remediate all existing web content, multimedia, and electronic documents on the ISSS site is influenced by, but not limited to:

  1. Content that has received a request for accommodation or accessibility feedback

  2. Content that is essential and/or required for coursework, educational programs, services, or activities

  3. Content that is on a high traffic or highly visible page

  4. Content that is the most recent

Let us know what you think

If you have enjoyed using the ISSS website, or if you have had trouble with any part of it, please get in touch. Please contact us and our staff will respond in 3 to 5 business days.