ADA Guidelines

An interim settlement agreement between the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and private plaintiffs and the state of Texas, will enable Texans with intellectual and other developmental disabilities live in community settings rather than nursing facilities.

The litigation alleges that Texas has not complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. and other federal statutes in ways leading to the needless institutionalization of people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in nursing facilities. More on Texas settling the disabilities lawsuit.

“Be more like us,” says Secretary of State John Kerry describing the message delivered by The Disabilities Treaty. The Treaty is intended to open the world to Americans with disabilities. Ratification will help provided Americans with the same protection globally that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides them on US soil. Moreover, it will enable Americans with disabilities to participate fully in the global economy. Read more about the The Disabilities Treaty.

Limited funds and lingering bias are responsible for the difficulties that persist in implementing portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law by George H.W. Bush in 1990. States struggle to fully transition individuals with disabilities out of institutional living. Click here for the full Report on how states struggle to comply with the ADA.

In 2010 the Department of Justice announced that it would issue proposed regulations governing the accessibility of websites of public accommodations and state and local governments. This was slated to be announced in December of 2013. The DOJ has now pushed back the announcement for public accommodations by 3 months to March of 2014. The proposed rule for state and local governments was supposed to be announced this month but has been pushed to November 2013. Read more about the delay for the ADA.

In addition to reevaluating the tools used to judge the accessibility of a website, the accessibility guidelines mandated by the US government, known as Section 508, will include a requirement for human-based testing. Read more about how human-based testing is required in the Section 508 refresh.

The University of Texas at San Antonio launched the Americans with Disabilities Act Disability Resources at UTSA website to help UTSA move toward accessibility for all its members. The site is a result of collaboration by members of the UTSA ADA Accessibility Committee.

July 26, 2013 marks the 23rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On July 26, 1990 President George H. Bush signed the Act, giving civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. If you want to help celebrate, check out the ADA Anniversary website created by the Southeast ADA center, a member of the ADA National Network and a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.

A student with a low vision disability sparked allegations that the University was in violation of the ADA. The student fell behind in coursework due to a lack of accessible course materials, prompting the student to dropout early in the quarter.

In a Justice Department announcement yesterday, it was said that a settlement was reached with Louisiana Tech University and the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System to remedy the alleged violations to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The University agreed to implement several policies that require they deploy learning technology, web pages and course material that meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA.

Read more about Louisiana Tech University adopting WCAG 2.0 level AA standard in a settlement with the Feds.

Read the Department of Justice Press Release here.

On April 29, 2013 the FCC adopted released a Commission Document regarding Accessible Internet Browsers on Mobile Phones: “In this Second Report and Order, we implement section 718 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), 1 which was added by section 104 of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA)2 to ensure that people with disabilities have access to emerging and innovative advanced communications technologies.”

http://www.fcc.gov/document/section-718-accessibility-requirements-internet-browsers-mobile

Section 718 now requires mobile phone manufacturers and service providers to include accessible internet browsers when browsers are provided on the device.  There is overlap in the Section 718 and Section 718 requirements for accessible internet browser.  Additionally this document is an affirmation “that Internet browsers used for Advanced Communication Services (ACS), that are installed or included by ACS equipment manufacturers or providers, are software subject to section 716 of the Act.4.”

This reinforces work already done for Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendment.  As browsers and web sites have been working to make the World Wide Web accessible to all users, there is now added strength to take the goal full circle to include ACS – otherwise known as smart phones and tablets and whatever wonderful new gadget is being invented in someone’s garage right now to carry the world in your pocket.

Title III of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) is all about ensuring that places of public accommodation are accessible to people with disabilities.  Is the Internet a place of public accommodation? That is the question that has been asked over the past few years and argued about in court.

Today there is no specific published technical recommendation that defines how the ADA is applied to the Internet but many public and private sector organizations have been sued for the inaccessibility of their websites under the ADA.