Accessibility Policy

Purpose of this Policy

Social27 operates many programs that are critically important to people with disabilities. Information Technology (IT) is often the vehicle for delivering them. This policy addresses the need for IT to be accessible to this constituency. The most effective and least costly approach to technology accessibility is for Social27 to incorporate accessibility into its IT governance, development, and procurement processes.

At Social27, our mission is to increase access to high-quality IT for everyone, everywhere – including users with disabilities. We seek to understand and respect the unique needs and perspectives of the Social27 global community, and we value every user. Accordingly, we are committed to ensuring that the www.Social27.com website (the “Site”) and SOCIAL27’s Virtual Communication/Event Platform (the “Service”) are accessible to individuals with disabilities and that our platform permits content providers to develop and post accessible content.

This policy applies to all prospective or current employees of the Social27, as well as contractors and visitors, who possess a disability of any kind that restricts them in various ways.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a framework for making web content more accessible for people with disabilities. WCAG version 2.0 was published in 2008 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization dedicated to creating web standards, and updated to WCAG 2.1 in June 2018. In 2012, WCAG 2.0 was also published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ISO/IEC 40500:2012.

Content that conforms to WCAG 2.1 also conforms to WCAG 2.0. For policies requiring conformance to WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1 can provide an alternate means of conformance.

The WCAG 2.0 and the WCAG2.1 are organized under four principles:

  • Perceivable: Provide text alternatives and captions for non-text content and multimedia; make it easier for users to see and hear content (font size, color contrast, etc.), including by assistive technologies, without losing meaning.
  • Operable: Help users navigate, find, and consume content using keyboards and non-keyboard inputs.
  • Understandable: Make content readable, understandable, and appear/operate in predictable ways.
  • Robust: Maximize compatibility with current and future user tools.

Check out the full WCAG (ISO/IEC 40500) accessibility standards.

U.S. Section 508

All new or modified content and functionality published, hosted, or otherwise provided by Social27 must meet the requirements outlined in Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA at minimum or AAA at maximum.

Social27 is a cloud-services provider to consumers, businesses, and governments around the world. Social27 publishes Accessibility Conformance Reports describing the extent to which our products/services support the WCAG criteria. This information can help Social27’s customers determine whether a product or service will meet their specific needs. Social27’s consideration of U.S. Section 508 in the development of products/services exemplifies its commitment to making technology and data accessible for all customers.

Social27 publishes WCAG reports for every Virtual Event.

Social27 Accessibility Policy Elements

Social27 ensures that people with disabilities will be able to move about safely and easily and make full use of our facilities.

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To meet this goal, we are committed to the following:

  1. We conform our websites to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA and AAA (“WCAG”), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”).
  2. We verify conformance through a combination of manual code inspection, automated testing using industry-recognized tools, compatibility testing using the most widely used accessibility support tools, user testing, and, from time to time, review by an independent website accessibility consultant and audit firm that issues manual and automated accessibility audit reports.
  3. We prioritize accessibility bug fixes to ensure they are remedied with the same level of priority as any other equivalent loss of function for individuals without disabilities.
  4. We modify our websites to permit content providers to post content in a format that conforms to WCAG for web content.
  5. We distribute this policy to Social27’s content providers, website content providers (including writers, editors, designers, and developers), and technical support personnel.
  6. We link to this policy from the www.social27.com homepage, solicit and provide a method to submit feedback, and provide a method to contact the Social27’s website accessibility coordinator.
  7. We develop and distribute accessibility practices to Social27 content providers.
  8. We appointed a website accessibility coordinator who is knowledgeable about website accessibility and digital accessibility standards, responsible for coordinating Social27’s responsibilities with respect to accessibility, and responsible for developing accessibility practices.
  9. We retain website accessibility consultants responsible for conducting annual website accessibility evaluations of our main website (www.social27.com) and time-to-time and on-demand testing of all Social27’s Virtual Events.
  10. We are compatible with most major internet browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. (Social27 websites may not perform optimally on Internet Explorer and older browser versions.)
  11. We provide mandatory bi-annual training to Social27 website content and technical support personnel on ensuring our websites conform to WCAG and Section 508.

Social27 undertakes these accessibility initiatives to expand access to everyone and to assist content providers, many of whom have independent obligations under accessibility laws, with creating content in accessible formats.Social27 urges content providers to incorporate accessibility in content posted on the Social27 website to meet a wide variety of requirements of users with disabilities.We are dedicated to making accessibility improvements to our websites. Please direct any questions or suggestions on how to improve the accessibility of our websites to accessibility@social27. We welcome your feedback!