If You Thought Digital Accessibility Regs were Boring: Think Again!
Accessible Avenue Update #5
Reading federal regulations is not for the faint of heart, but sometimes, they serve as the harbinger for something really important and big!
In August, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a “Notice of Proposed Rule Making” (NPRM) which, if implemented, will amend the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to require state and local governments (including public school districts, other special districts, and public transit agencies) to make their websites and mobile apps accessible for use by people with disabilities.
Why the New Regs are Needed
The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life, including in the provision of government services. However, at the time of the ADA’s passage, the Internet was in its infancy, and few state and local governments were doing much of anything online. Consequently, the ADA was largely silent on the matter of Internet accessibility. Fast-forward 33 years, and virtually all state and local governments do virtually everything online, and that includes public transit. Customers learn about available services, check schedules, plan trips, buy tickets, pay for passes, and monitor their trips online, and more often than not, they’re using a mobile app to do so. A growing number of these websites and mobile apps are being designed to be accessible, but a large percentage were not designed to work with assistive technologies such as screen reading software, braille displays, screen magnification software, dictation software, and other types of assistive technology, and this is causing people with disabilities to be left out. In fact, surveys of people with disabilities regularly cite the inaccessibility of passenger transportation as one of the top barriers to everything from employment to volunteering in their communities, to attending worship services. Given the importance of websites and mobile apps as gateways to community access and mobility, it is essential that they work for everyone.
What the Proposed Regs Require
The websites and mobile apps of state and local governments must meet the accessibility standards set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AA. These standards were developed by the international World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to guide web developers, assistive technology providers, and industry regulators around the world. They will allow for a greater level of consistency among all public and private organizations who adopt them.
State and municipal governments serving a population of greater than 50,000 would have two years to come into compliance with the new standards. All other covered entities would have three years.
There are exemptions for content provided by third party providers, older and unused online documents, and for some categories of electronic information that is specific to an individual and password-protected. These exemptions would not apply if the content is integral to the use of a program or service that the governmental entity is providing to the public.
Estimated Costs and Benefits of the Proposed Rule
When proposing new regulations, federal agencies are required to conduct a cost and benefits analysis of those rules.
Benefits of the proposed rule (at least in the opinion of the Department of Justice) include:
Increased access to government-provided programs and services for people with disabilities
Increasing participation in society by people with disabilities
(This is especially true when considering the role that public transit plays in getting people to and from work.)
Improved quality of life for people with disabilities
(Again, public transit plays a critical role in the quality of life for the people we serve.)
Reduction in the number of accessibility-related complaints and lawsuits by people with disabilities unable to obtain the government-provided programs and services they need.
Although the precise cost of implementing these regulations is hard to pin down, the Department of Justice estimates an implementation cost of $2.5 billion and offsetting savings of $12.6 billion over the next ten years. These are big numbers, but when spread out over the thousands of special districts, state, county and municipal governments covered by the regs, the estimate actually seems moderate.
What’s Next?
The U.S. Department of Justice is accepting comments on the proposed regulations until midnight on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Once the comment period closes, the Department will evaluate the comments it receives and make final adjustments to the regulations. Once they have completed this process, the regulations could be published at any time.
Take a Deeper Dive
Read the official Press Release here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-advances-proposed-rule-strengthen-web-and-mobile-app-access-people
Read the text of the NPRM here:
Read a summary Fact Sheet prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice here: https://www.ada.gov/notices/2023/07/20/web-nprm/.
This Fact Sheet is written in simple language and includes links to a number of additional resources for those who want even more.
File comments on the proposed rule until midnight, Tuesday, October 3, 2023:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/DOJ-CRT-2023-0007-0001
By mail: Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001
Want Help with Online Accessibility?
Accessible Avenue partners with Karcsay Consulting Group and the Talent Lab at the American Foundation for the Blind to assist organizations to assess and identify accessibility gaps in their websites, mobile apps and other electronic content.
For more information: https://accessibleavenue.net/schedule-consultation
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