Round up for July, who has been covering online inclusivity?
Jul 15 2021
With the frequency of ADA website accessibility lawsuits increasing, we’re regularly seeing new articles in the media around this topic.
Here are some of our top picks for the most interesting reads about online inclusivity over the last few weeks, including some great resources to help increase the understanding of what assistive technology is and how it’s used.
Largest U.S. Blind Advocacy Group Bans Web Accessibility Overlay Giant AccessiBe From Its National Convention
Accessibility overlays causing more harm than good is something we’ve been aware of for some time, so it’s great to see America’s most influential civil rights and advocacy group, The National Federation of the Blind, coming into the conversation. We’ll be talking more about overlays in the coming month.
Supercool Sessions #4: Accessibility and Inclusion with Molly Watt
This webinar highlights how assistive technology is used and its impacts on users in the real world. Molly Watt, who has a condition called Usher Syndrome, which causes deafblindness, talks about her own technology experience, including overlay services.
What is assistive technology? Understanding accessibility features and services
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-assistive-technology (opens in a new window)
Another good example to show the wide-ranging types of assistive technology that are used. It’s crucial for inclusivity to be included at every stage of planning, designing, building, and testing; therefore, knowing what technology users with access needs use, and how this technology is used, is essential for everyone involved in the process.
Murky Rules Complicate ADA Compliance Online
https://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/1398676 (opens in a new window)
ADA being considered as complicated, is a subject we’re well aware of. Our CEO, Lawrence Shaw, discussed this recently on the FNO: InsureTech Podcast (opens in a new window) “The majority of businesses want to be compliant, and that's the challenge they face is understanding what compliance is and then achieving it.”
Many federal websites don't meet accessibility requirements, study finds
ITIF identified the 72 most popular government domains which were studied; 30% of the homepages of these websites didn't meet standards for accessibility. The recent focus in the US has been mainly on retail website lawsuits, but federal agencies need to ensure their services are inclusive in order to verify that millions of citizens are not missing out on accessing crucial services.
New Laws Let Americans With Disabilities Vote Online. They’ve Also Resurrected The Debate About Voting Access vs. Election Security
Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, & West Virginia have all passed or considered passing legislation that allows voters with certain disabilities to return ballots online. We’re pleased to see some progress with this, enabling voting to be more inclusive, but we hope that these services will actually be inclusive and able to be used by all.
Web accessibility lawsuits on track to increase nearly 20% in 2021
The consistent and concerning rise in website accessibility lawsuits under the ADA law continues to make headlines, with retail still the biggest targeted sector. What also concerns us is that these lawyers rarely have compliant websites, leading us nicely to the next article.
Who tests the ADA testers?
https://sheribyrnehaber.medium.com/who-tests-the-ada-testers-dcb9db8d3749 (opens in a new window)
This article discusses the pros and cons of ADA testers, how courts aren't in love with them, and curtailment that may be in the not-too-distant future. Sheri highlights how lawsuits provide an avenue to address real harm, but plaintiff-profusion is dragging down the whole system and not leading to improvements in compliance.
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Some of our top picks about online inclusivity from the last few weeks, including resources to help understand what assistive technology is and how it’s used.