Accessibility

The Employment Development Department (EDD) ) is committed to promoting a Web presence that is accessible to all Californians. In order to do so, EDD follows Federal Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508), as adopted by the State of California, and Web Content Accessibilty Guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. The World Wide Web Consortium, an international industry consortium, works in collaboration with disability organizations, research centers and governments, issuing guidelines to promote accessibility for people with disabilities.

The EDD recognizes that users may be operating in various contexts. Some of these may be:

1. Users may have different levels of vision, hearing, movement, and processing information.
2. Users may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
3. Users may have difficulty or limited use of a keyboard or mouse.
4. Users may have limited fluency in the language in which a document is written.
5. Users may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection.
6. Users may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

While there are complex issues still to be resolved, below are some of the features which now provide additional accessibility:

1. Programming language has been upgraded, rewritten, and simplified, to increase download speed and to enable effective use of assistive devices (aids, equipment, adaptations).
2. Text equivalents describe all images.

3. The beginning of each page contains "Skip" links with access keys, which provide keyboard shortcuts to important links. These shortcuts are valid on all pages.

   Access Key Codes

   Access Key	Destination
   c	Content of the current page
   e	EDD Home Page
   n	Navigation
   p	Portal for the State of California
   s	Search

4. The browser can adjust the page's font size.

   Font Size Browser Menu Paths

   Browser	Menu Path
   Firefox	"View" - "Font Size" - "Increase"
   Internet Explorer	"View" - "Text Size" - "Larger"
   Netscape	"View" - "Text Size" - "Increase"
   Opera	"View" - "Zoom" - "120%"

The EDD is in the process of redesigning www.edd.ca.gov to be more accessible by users operating in various contexts. If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, TTY, etc.) and cannot access information due to the format of the material, please try the Department Directory which contains a list, by subject, of public inquiry phone numbers. Questions, comments, or suggestions, regarding accessibility or the EDD Web site may also be submitted via our Contact Us page. To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the web address of the requested material, and your contact information.