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HCC IS FIRST CONNECTICUT STATE COLLEGE TO EARN WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY CERTIFICATE

BRIDGEPORT -- Housatonic Community College’s website is the first among Connecticut’s state colleges to win accessibility certification.

The certification, issued by the state’s ConneCT Management Advisory Committee, indicates that the website meets a complex set of standards that ensure accessibility to as many people as possible, said HCC Webmaster Susan Greene, a Fairfield resident. “Certification means that we have effectively taken steps to be sure that our website can be read by as many users as possible, including those equipped with devices created to ensure handicapped access.” The standards are an outgrowth of a state policy adopted two years ago requiring that state websites be accessible to people with disabilities.

With computer technology advancing at such a rapid rate, she said, web-page designers can lose sight of the fact that many people have such devices, while others have text-based browsers, low-end processors, slow modem connections and/or no multimedia capabilities on their computer. All this severely limits their access to websites.

Website access is particularly important to people with disabilities, she said. “The amazing and rapid growth of the Internet has allowed many of us to rely on it as a source of immediate and reliable information. For those with disabilities, this is even more important because many traditional means of communication - newspapers, radio and television - offer stumbling blocks to those with hearing or visual impairment.”

According to the Bureau of Census, 9.7 million people in the country, roughly 5 percent of the population, have difficulty seeing the words and letters in ordinary newsprint. Another 10.9 million people, or nearly 6 percent of the population, have difficulty hearing what is said in ordinary conversation.

In 1995, there were an estimated 35,000 people in the state who were legally blind, and twice that number who were visually impaired. In addition, there were an estimated 25,000 people who were profoundly deaf and another 175,000 people who were hard of hearing.

“All of these would benefit from more user-friendly web pages,” Greene said.

In many cases, she said, what’s required to enhance accessibility is altering the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) code that’s used to create web pages. This involves learning the code to use to maximize accessibility and reviewing an existing website to ensure that all code is correctly written. “Content and visual appeal do not need to be sacrificed to meet the guidelines,” Greene said.

Before certification was awarded, each page of HCC’s 400-plus page website was reviewed to be sure it met the state’s accessibility criteria.

“We’re proud that we were able to respond so quickly to the need for improved accessibility,” Greene said. “When advancements in technology serve to enrich the experiences of the disabled, then I feel it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to make it happen.”

With a five-year-old campus in the heart of Connecticut's largest city, Housatonic is one of the country's fastest-growing public community colleges. Since it moved to the new campus in January 1997, HCC's enrollment has increased by 61 percent. According to the most recent statistics released by the Washington D.C.-based American Association of Community Colleges, HCC was ranked among the 34 fastest-growing public community colleges and was third in the Northeast.

In response to increased enrollments and changing workplace needs both regionally and nationally, HCC has increased the number of programs offered from 43 to 65 since moving to the new campus.

The college is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 and Rte. 8.