Governance and Policy Level 2 (4-7 points)

Developing Your Accessibility Governance

Your assessment indicates your organisation is at Level 2 in the Governance and Policy dimension of accessibility maturity. There is activity, but it is still uncoordinated and barely resourced. Enthusiasm has no policy backing though the right noises are being made. This shows you’ve begun establishing formal governance structures but still have significant room for development.

Organisations at this level typically:

• Have thought about the requirement for accessibility policies
• Have assigned some responsibility for accessibility, though roles may not be clearly defined
• Have started forming accessibility working groups or committees
• have thought about the need for accessibility metrics
• Have initial requirements documented, but may not consistently apply them

Key Opportunities

To develop more mature accessibility governance:

• Get your senior managers to acknowledge the importance of accessibility and nominate a sponsor
• Add ‘accessibility feedback’ to your accessibility statement and your ‘contact us’ page
• Prepare a digital accessibility policy with an executive sponsor
• Look to move beyond initial role-based support groups to more formal support and advisory groups
• Clearly define accessibility roles and responsibilities at different levels
• Begin setting accessibility goals and objectives with accountability

You’ve laid the groundwork for accessibility governance. Now you can focus on strengthening these initial structures.