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Creating an Equally Effective Alternate Access Plan (EEAAP)

Thank you for your shared commitment to digital inclusion and access equality at Harvard University.

According to Harvard’s Digital Accessibility Policy, University websites should aim to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. If you are an owner of a Harvard website requesting a Digital Accessibility Policy Exception, part of the exception includes creating an Equally Effective Alternate Access Plan (EEAAP). An EEAAP describes how information will be made available to individuals with disabilities until conformance with the Policy can be met. 

A Thoughtful Process

Because accessibility issues may emerge after a site or product has been deployed, it’s helpful to think of the EEAAP as a living document, subject to review and revision as circumstances change.

As a required step when requesting a Harvard Digital Accessibility Policy Exception, creating an EEAAP is by virtue a thoughtful process, which requires some measure of planning, forethought, and consideration.

To assist in this process, information and resources provided below can help with understanding and organizing your plan.

Purpose of an EEAAP

Imagine yourself immersed in work for which your skills and knowledge are well suited, and with which you have had a track-record of success.
 
Now imagine the technology you use for doing this work suddenly stops working. Digital features, like buttons and controls, disappear, and the text on the page becomes too small to read. Information on the screen is jumbled, and meaningful images are now missing.
 
If you need this technology to be productive in your job or education, or to interact and communicate with others, you will soon find yourself at a loss to continue.
 
In this scenario, you most likely wouldn’t classify the faulty technology as merely "inaccessible," you’d probably say that it simply does not work.
 
For some people, such matters are not hypothetical. Digital technologies routinely lack features to support being used by people with disabilities.
 
If technology doesn’t work for all of us, it’s on all of us to fix it, get it right, and make it work. If fixes will take time, we can take intermediate steps by creating an EEAAP.

When to create an EEAAP

An EEAAP may be appropriate in several scenarios. Create an EEAAP if:

  • Your technology is in wide use, and particularly if the technology is public facing
  • Your technology is required for classroom, program, or other participation
  • You will distribute or employ the technology for multiple semesters or years
  • You are unable to obtain accessible technology that meets your needs
  • You identify a potential accessibility barrier in your current technology

Process for Creating an EEAAP

The typical steps involved in creating an EEAAP are:

  1. Read “What goes into an EEAAP” below, and consider your responses
  2. Complete and submit the Digital Accessibility Policy Exception form (HarvardKey required)

What goes into an EEAAP

The information below will help you plan, prepare, and complete the EEAAP form. 

1. Information about the inaccessible technology (e.g., title, site owner, audience)

  • What are the potential barriers to access (e.g., inaccessible keyboard, missing ALT text, missing captions); these may be determined via:
  • In-house or third-party testing
  • Discovery after deployment

2. Who is likely to be affected by accessibility issues, and how?

  • What is the role of the user (e.g., student, faculty/staff, administrator, public)
  • How might accessibility issues impact the user (e.g., missing captions deny context to user who is deaf)

3. How will the responsible party provide alternative means of completing the task or process?

  • What tasks will be required?
  • What resources will be required?

4. Who is responsible for implementing the EEAAP?

  • Job role and contact information for the responsible party should be readily available in the event that a user experiences a barrier to access
  • The responsible party should already be familiar with, and ready to execute, the EEAAP

5. How will the accessibility issues be addressed?

  • Who will identify the issues?
  • In what order will the issues be addressed?
  • What is the timeline for correcting the issues?

Digital Accessibility Policy Exception and EEAAP Form 

Complete the Digital Accessibility Policy Exception form (HarvardKey required) and describe your alternative access plan to the Accessibility Steering Committee for approval.

Where to go with questions

Please contact Harvard’s Digital Accessibility Services (DAS) with questions at digitalaccessibility@harvard.edu.