Accessibility

The Grad Center believes in the importance of both virtual and facilities access. Additional information about accessibility, directions, and maps are available on the Penn Facilities website. 

Facilities Access

The Graduate Student Center also provides physical access to our building for all graduate students regardless of physical ability according to federal guidelines as outlined by the Architectural Barriers Act.

PennAccess provides documentation (PDF, opens in new tab) on the accessibility of this building's entrance, elevator, and restrooms. Please do not block wheelchair ramps or doors. Bikes locked to the wheelchair ramp handrail will be removed by the Penn Police.

The Graduate Student Center also provides an accessible computer station in the southeast corner of the Common Room.

Virtual Access

Penn's Graduate Student Center believes it is important to create online content in a manner that is accessible to a broad spectrum of users and devices. To that end, our site templates were developed with the goal meeting both U.S. Government Section 508 Guidelines as well as priority levels 1, 2, and 3 of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Access Keys

Access keys allow for easier navigation via keyboard. Windows users press Alt, Shift, and an access key (you may then have to press Enter); Macintosh users press Ctrl and an access key. Pages on this site define the following access keys:

  • Access key 1 - Home Page
  • Access key 2 - Search Box
  • Access key s - Search Button
  • Access key a - Activities
  • Access key f - Facilties
  • Access key r - Resources
  • Access key 0 - Accessibility Statement

Font Size

You can change the font size of the Web site text:

  • In Internet Explorer, select "View" from the top navigation; select "Text Size"; and then select your preferred size.

  • In Firefox, select "View" from the top navigation; select "Zoom"; and then select either "Zoom In" or "Zoom Out." (You can also increase text size by pressing the keys Control and + on Windows computers or Command and + on Macintosh.)

  • In Safari, select "View" from the top navigation; select "Make Text Bigger" or "Make Text Smaller." Alternatively, you can hold down shortcut keys Command and + to make text bigger and Command and – to make text smaller.

Links

Each link has a title attribute that describes the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target.

Images

All content images used in this site include descriptive alt attributes. XHTML text is always used instead of graphics containing text.

Accessibility Software

The following programs are recommended for those with particular accessibility needs:

  • JAWS, a program that audibly reads screen content;

  • Lynx, a free text-only Web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.