A11yCookies: Episode 1 - Title II of the ADA

Shilpi: Okay interesting! So now if I'm the CEO of a tech company selling to federal or state agencies should I ignore or take this rule seriously?

Lainey: I would say you better take it seriously, you will ignore at your peril. Now remember the rule only applies to State and local governments for federal contractors it's Section 508.

Shilpi: Brilliant that is a great bit of information for people to understand. So now what technologies does the rule apply to?

Lainey: The rule is about web content and mobile apps so websites in mobile apps and I do want to say there's a lot of definitions in this rule, so I really encourage people to look at the Department of Justice fact sheet about the rule and they talk about what is web content basically everything the video and the form and the forms and the platforms and also the documents. They have a term about the documents they're including word process documents, presentation documents like PowerPoint. So there's a lot but the bottom line is websites and mobile apps.

Shilpi: Interesting! So now what is the standard that will be required to comply to?

Lainey: The standard is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 at the AA level.

Shilpi: And who has to comply with this rule?

Lainey: This rule is directed to state and local governments in the United States so that's any part of a state or local government, it doesn't just mean the state of Massachusetts but it means the parks department, and the public school system and the higher ed, the universities, the voting systems - anything that a state or local government offers to the public is covered by this rule.

Shilpi: So that's quite a broad you know spectrum of organizations that have to comply. Let's move on to what is the proposed timeline to comply with this rule?

Lainey: Yeah before we get to that real quick I said state and local so it's not just the state of Massachusetts, it's the cities in Massachusetts and the counties in Massachusetts and every other state in the United States so um yeah it has a broad scope the time frame is that what you asked the timeline?

Shilpi: Yes very much the proposed timeline to comply yes.

Lainey: I'd say first off it's not proposed this is a final rule that is required so we did have a whole system for a proposed Rule and public comment. This is now the final it's required and they've divided it into two parts. If you're a small organization in a state and local government under 50,000 in your population you have until April 24 2027. If you're larger than 50,000 you have till April 24 2026 and it's always tied to April 24 because that's the date the rule became final.

Shilpi: So everybody needs to get their act together and get going to make this happen.

Lainey: Absolutely.

Shilpi: Totally. So are there any exceptions to WCAG 2.1 level AA requirements?

Lainey: There are exceptions in the rule but it's really important again to read them carefully. I just pulled out a couple to share with your audience and it's almost like every exception has its own exception. So for example there is an exception for what they call pre-existing conventional electronic documents that would be posted. Word files, PDF, PowerPoint, pre-existing means were they on the website before those dates we just talked about. So basically it's not asking a state or local government to go back to things that were posted a long time ago and no longer used. The exception says you don't have to do it for pre-existing conventional electronic documents unless they're currently used to apply for, gain access or participate in the service and programs. So you might have an old PDF but you're still using it for people to ask questions, apply for a job, get a Parks reservation - So the exception wouldn't apply there. So there are a few exceptions like that; exception for archive material, but I really encourage people to read it. It is a lot, it's not that scary if you just sit down the justice department has a great summary go there.

Shilpi: And now Lainey, tell me if I have a SAAS product and I am selling to the state government but it is currently WCAG 2.0 compliant do I need to adhere to WCAG 2.1 or 2?

Lainey: The rule runs to State and local government and if you are selling the state and local government should be requiring you to meet this new rule which is WCAG 2.1 AA. So great, congratulations for being at 2.0. Got to push a little harder and get to 2.1 by these deadlines.

Shilpi: And you know we already have a WCAG 2.2 so what about that?

Lainey: Well Shilpi this is a problem with the law you know technology goes faster than the law does, so this rule does not incorporate WCAG 2.2 there can always be new rules. I don't anticipate that happening of course all of WCAG, it's not just a rule for rule's sake; it's a rule to be more inclusive of disabled people. So yes the best practice is to follow WCAG 2.2 but this rule is WCAG 2.1 now.

Shilpi: Indirectly will this nudge technology companies to prioritize web accessibility according to you?

Lainey: I said not just nudge is like a little softer than I would say I would say yes absolutely . You know it's critically important that anybody selling whether you're you know a large company, a small company if you want to do business with a state and local government in the United States, you have to be thinking of these rules. And remember again it's not just rules, the idea here is that the public includes disabled people and the public should not be leaving out disabled people and that is the 'why' of this Rule and every tech company selling to State and local government, licensing to State and local government should be paying close attention.

Shilpi: Thank you Lainey. Thank you for joining us at A11y Cookies. Thank you for being a part of this new initiative of BarrierBreak and I think we learned a lot from you today and I'm as hopeful as you are - 70% hopeful 30% disheartened and I hope that everybody in the technology world takes this seriously. Thank you again for doing this with us.

Lainey: Yeah thanks for having me. Good luck with the series.