New regulation regarding Web Accessibility
Well, it isn’t actually “new” so much as “improved”. What I’m referring to is changes to Title II of the ADA via a new “Final Rule” by the US Department of Justice, titled Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities.
What does it mean? That sort of depends on who you ask. But first, I’ll tell you what the new regulation does: It explicitly states that WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the technical standard for conformance for Web and mobile accessibility under Title II of the ADA. While it is nice to finally see it explicitly stated, it is well understood by most in this field that this was the expectation all along. For example, during the Obama Administration, the DOJ’s Project Civic Access actively enforced all aspects of Title II and those agreements included conformance to WCAG 2.0 Level AA (2.1 wasn’t a thing yet). So, for State and Local Governments, this new regulation doesn’t really mean much because they’ve been aware of this for a long time. To answer “what does this mean”, we really need to look a little deeper.
I could write a book on the history of ADA and digital accessibility, but I’ll boil it down to its barest points here: There’s been a lot of partisan politics behind the scenes for the last several years regarding digital accessibility. For practical purposes, it is advisable to bring your digital properties into compliance with WCAG standards because of the prevalence of lawsuits. But most of those lawsuits happen in a few court districts. Why? Because the ADA does not explicitly state that the Web is a place of public accommodation. In other words, in the strictest interpretation of the ADA, there’s nothing that says the Web must be accessible. While the DOJ itself has said many times that the Web is a place of public accommodation, the law itself isn’t that clear.
What you should take from this update to Title II of the ADA is an awareness that Title III changes are coming, with the caveat that it depends on the outcome of the next election. Politics aside, we believe that it is very important that Title III include reference to the Web as a place of public accommodation and it should incorporate WCAG 2.1 Level AA by reference just like these new changes have done. This will finally end so many years of ambiguity and make clear who should conform and how.
For you, the best approach is to use this time period to get your digital properties accessible now, rather than scramble later. There’s already an ever present risk of lawsuit from plaintiffs in New York, Pennsylvania, California, and Florida. When the Title III changes do happen, the legal activity will spike.
On May 29, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST I am giving a webinar titled "You're Getting Sued: What Happens Now?"
Register here:
https://afixt.com/webinars/youre-getting-sued-what-happens-now/
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