Accessibility Compliance

This page provides information about WRDS’ Section 508 compliance, including a complete Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) documenting compliance.

Accessibility Statement

As part of our commitment to excellence through diversity and inclusion, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) strives to ensure that campus communication and information technology is accessible to everyone.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (504) require that qualified individuals be provided equal access to programs, services, and activities. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make new opportunities available to people with disabilities and to encourage the development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.

Below are the compliance standards used in support of the federal legislation as well as WRDS policy: Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, as revised in 2021.

Key accessibility features include:

  • Alternative text descriptions for meaningful non-text elements, including captions for videos.
  • Access that does not require the use of a mouse.
  • Information that is not dependent on color for meaning, and sufficient contrast between colored elements.
  • Legible text that can be increased (or decreased) in size.
  • Structural presentation to identify headings and lists.
  • Association of form fields with proper labels.
  • Association of all data cells in a data table with column and row headers.
  • WRDS administrative staff is trained on compliance standards.

To report a problem:

If you use assistive technology and the format of any material on our website interferes with your ability to access the information, please contact wrds-support@wharton.upenn.edu for assistance.

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