Prioritization key to prep for website accessibility rule
Prasit photo/Getty Images
Now that the Department of Justice has issued a final rule to make government websites accessible for people with disabilities, states and localities have to start implementing it. Here’s how.
The announcement by the Department of Justice of a final rule last month to improve government website accessibility for people with disabilities started what may feel like a multiyear, multimillion-dollar scramble to comply for states and localities.
The directive marked the first time the federal government had issued a rule clarifying how a section of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies online. The final rule also seeks to address the myriad accessibility challenges facing government websites. Small text, a lack of captions for live audio and forms with hard-to-follow instructions are just some of the issues that make it harder for users with disabilities to access services and interact with government agencies.
Under the final rule, governments with 50,000 people or more have two years to comply, while those with fewer than 50,000 people have three years. The Justice Department estimated that compliance costs will be in the millions, both in remediating existing content and in annual costs to ensure continued compliance.
Indeed, many agencies are looking at thousands of pages and pieces of other content that will have to be brought into compliance. And that is where prioritization will be key.
Start, observers in the private sector recommend, with an agency’s most visited pages, especially if those pages offer a direct way to access government services.
“If you have a PDF that people have to download to apply for a permit, that's in the critical path of providing government services, so that's something you have to prioritize,” said Josh Koenig, co-founder and chief strategy officer at website operations company Pantheon. “It really is just figuring out where your people need you the most, and where the digital component of your services is the most critical.”
Getting there will require an accessibility audit of those pages and that content, too. Understanding how things stand helps establish a “path to compliance” and the changes required, said Dave O'Reilly, chief operating officer at local government software company CivicPlus.
An interesting aspect of the DOJ rule is a new emphasis on user experience, according to Koenig. Government websites under the regulation need to be not only accessible for people with disabilities but also usable. There are indicators that states have a long way to go: ScanGov, a new initiative from a father-son civic hacking duo, monitors the digital experience of government websites and on average gave state websites an “F” grade.
Some states were already moving to make sure their websites are more accessible. Colorado passed legislation in 2021 making it a violation of state civil rights for an agency to exclude people with disabilities from receiving services or benefits due to a lack of accessibility. The statewide web accessibility standards established are enforced by the state Office of Information Technology, with a compliance deadline of July 1.
California had advanced similar legislation in its 2023 legislative session, although it stalled. While that bill was under discussion, law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP warned of a “tsunami” of accessibility lawsuits in the state.
Website modernization and improved accessibility is doable, despite the seemingly steep climb to compliance for most states. Koenig said his company is helping Iowa with more than 70 agency websites, and a key lesson he has learned so far is the “shift left” principle, where websites and content are tested as part of the redesign process, rather than at the end.
“It makes it a faster feedback loop for the people who are hands on keyboard, so that they know that something isn't right, right away,” he said. “Then they can fix it while they're in the mental space of creating it, versus getting a report two weeks or two months later saying they’ve got to go back and fix all these things.”
While the compliance costs may appear onerous to state and local government agencies, O’Reilly said the rule represents a moment where “legislation and the ethical compass meet each other at the right time.” Governments could see the rule as an encumbrance, or they could use it to help make things better, not just for people with disabilities but also for others as part of a “shared good,” he said.
“As society is becoming more aware of the importance and the value that people with accessibility issues can deliver,” O’Reilly said, “the DOJ has come over the top and said, ‘You should do what is right, and we're going to force you to do it.’ I think that's a pivotal point.”
NEXT STORY: To meet class size mandate, officials look to virtual learning