Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM)
The California Community Colleges Accessibility Center proudly presents the Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM) — a transformative framework designed to guide colleges and districts in advancing digital accessibility. The ACMM breaks down broad concepts of digital accessibility into clear, achievable milestones, ensuring that institutions can proactively improve accessibility at a pace that aligns with their resources.
Benefits of the ACMM
In today's technology driven educational environment, proactively providing equal access to all is critical. The ACMM helps institutions move from a reactive approach, which focuses on addressing accessibility concerns only when they arise, to a proactive and ongoing effort that incorporates accessibility into all aspects of the institution’s technology presence. Benefits include:
- Continuously Improve Accessibility: Make iterative updates to policies, procedures, and business processes, ensuring inclusivity for students, employees, and the public.
- Align with the CCC Vision 2030: Foster diversity, equity, and inclusion by removing institutional barriers for individuals with disabilities.
- Proactively Meet Legal Requirements: Address the needs of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and incorporate Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recommendations, reducing legal risks.
- Collaborate Across the Institution: Administrators, faculty, and staff work together within an organized framework to enhance the accessibility experience.
How does the ACMM Work?
Assess: Assess the current state of the institution’s business processes against the ACMM Goals and Milestones. For institutions that have chosen to participate, the ACMM Team will visit for a training and provide a baseline assessment
Plan: Use the baseline assessment and provided recommendations to help your institution create an accessibility improvement plan for the coming year
Implement: Over the next year, implement the plan and make improvements to business processes
Repeat: At the end of each year (cycle), reassess to capture maturity and repeat the process each year
Participation
Are you ready to improve accessibility at your institution? To participate, colleges and districts need executive support (Vice President level or higher). Reach out today to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and schedule your college's assessment for the academic year!
Learn More
List of PDFs
Additional information
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Hyperlink Color Change Tutorial in Canvas Theme Settings
The default hyperlink color in Canvas is inaccessible. Canvas admins are advised to select a darker blue for sufficient color contrast. The following tutorial explains the four steps to change hyperlink color in Canvas:
- In the Global Navigation Pane, select Admin
- Select Themes
- Select your Current Theme
- Under Edit select Link Color - place your desired darker blue color (The CCC Accessibility Center uses #0277bb)
Accessibility Tools
The Accessibility Center offers several tools to support accessibility in the CCC System at no cost. Please note that organizations may be limited to a specific number of seats or licenses depending on product license limitations.
Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility
Pope Tech's Canvas Accessibility solution includes two integrated tools - the Instructor Accessibility Guide and Canvas Dashboards. Together, these tools work together to enhance accessibility within Canvas. The Instructor Accessibility Guide reviews Canvas pages for potential accessibility errors and prompts content authors with actionable suggestions to remediate any identified issues within their Canvas pages. Accessibility Dashboards allows instructors to monitor the accessibility status of all their courses, while offering administrators overall accessibility reports for the institution. Key features of this tool include automated scans for accessibility issues, detailed accessibility reports, and guidance for resolving identified accessibility issues.
To request access to this Canvas Solution, please complete the Pope Tech Dashboards request form. Installing this tool requires District/College Canvas administrator approval and attendance at a meeting with Pope Tech.
Note: The Instructor Accessibility Guide is no longer available as a standalone tool, as it is now included within the Pope Tech Dashboards.
Vendor Resources
- Pope Tech Canvas Documentation
- Canvas Accessibility Guide Video Demos
- Understanding Pope Tech Accessibility Results
Document Conversion
Beginning July 1, 2025 the CCC Document Converter will no longer be supported by the CCC Accessibility Center. Please see information below on alternative conversion tools and for information on how to contact SensusAccess to contract directly with them as a vendor.
Conversion Tools by Format
| Format | Tools |
|---|---|
| Convert to Microsoft Word | Abbyy FineReader, Robobraille, Google Docs, OneNote, Adobe Acrobat Pro |
| Convert to PDF | Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Robobraille, OneNote, Smallpdf |
| Convert to HTML | Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Robobraille |
| Audio | NaturalReader, Robobraille, Kurzweil 3000, Dolphin Converter |
| DAISY | Obi, Dolphin Converter, Robobraille |
| E-Book | Calibre, Robobraille, WordToEPUB, Sigil |
| Braille | Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT), Robobraille, Dolphin Converter, Braille Blaster |
Conversion Tools by Role
| Role | Primary Tools |
|---|---|
| DSPS Staff | Abbyy FineReader, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Robobraille, ATPC Services, Duxbury, WordToEPUB, Sigil, Duxbury |
| Faculty | Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat Pro, OneNote, Robobraille, WordToEPUB |
| Students | Microsoft Word, Google Docs, OneNote, Smallpdf |
Vendor Contact Information
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Access the CCC Document Converter (until June 30, 2025)
Vendor Resources
PDF Remediation (Equidox)
Equidox is a web-based application that assists in the remediation of inaccessible PDF documents and converts them into HTML, EPUB, or accessible PDF versions. This tool should not be used to remediate documents that contain personal data.
To request access to Equidox, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. At this time, licenses are limited to approximately six per CCC organization.
Vendor Resources
Pope Tech Website Scanning
The Pope Tech website scanning tool is a site-wide accessibility scanning and evaluation tool designed to crawl an institution's public-facing website and identify potential accessibility errors. This tool uses multi-page scanning to provide feedback on errors, alerts, color contrast, ARIA usage, and more.
To request access to the Pope Tech website scanning tool, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Vendor Resources
Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM)
Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM)
The CCC Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM) takes the broad concept of accessibility and breaks it down into achievable goals and milestones so colleges and districts can drive accessibility forward. The ACMM mitigates risk through iterative improvement and proactively addresses Office of Civil Rights (OCR) settlement requirements in a manageable timeline based on campus resources.
Learning Accessible Web Design
Learning Accessible Web Design
Headings, images, keyboard navigation, color contrast — these are just a few of the accessibility concepts and techniques to be aware of when creating accessible web content.
Accessibility Capability Maturity Model
Learn more about the ACMM and how it helps drive accessibility forward.
Training
Find online and in-person accessibility training opportunities for college staff and faculty.
Alternate Media Workflow
Learn more about alternate media best practices and the different types of alternate formats.
About the CCC Accessibility Center
The CCC Accessibility Center proactively assesses the California community college system's web and information technology accessibility needs and offers services, guidance and technical assistance to help colleges in realizing an accessible technology environment. Diversity and inclusion are core values embraced by the California Community Colleges. Accessible websites and information technology positively impacts individuals with disabilities, offering greater opportunity for engagement and participation in pursuit of lifelong learning throughout California's community colleges.