Biden administration unveils new steps to improve access to online services for Americans with disabilities

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — The White House is taking new steps to improve access to online services for Americans with disabilities, working to eliminate disparities with a new rule establishing accessibility standards for state and local governments’ web and mobile app-based services.

The new rule, which comes on the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, is aimed at addressing challenges for web and mobile-based services such as voter registration, filing taxes, applying for social services, registering for vaccines, getting information on public transit, and taking online courses, the White House said in a fact sheet.

“(Thirty-three) years after the ADA’s passage, many barriers to the full participation and inclusion of people with disabilities still remain. And in some cases, new barriers have been erected. For example, the dramatic shifts towards online services have too often left disabled people behind. It does not need to be that way,” US associate attorney general Vanita Gupta told reporters.

With advancing technology for these types of services, accessibility provisions have not always kept up, and Tuesday’s action is aimed at addressing some of those shortfalls. It will affect nearly 50 million people with vision, hearing, cognitive, and manual dexterity disabilities, officials said.

“Despite the important progress made under the ADA, many people with disabilities cannot access web or mobile-based state and local services. … This lack of accessibility has led unequal access to critical services for millions of Americans. As most services turned online during the pandemic, access disparities worsened,” the fact sheet said, noting that “deaf and hard of hearing people could not understand video messages from governors and mayors due to lack of captioning and American Sign Language interpretation” and “community college students with certain disabilities, such as manual dexterity disabilities, could not properly navigate online course content.”

“It’s important that websites and mobile apps be designed accessibly so that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to access public programs, services, and activities,” Gupta said.

The Justice Department has issued the proposed rule via the Federal Register. After it is published on federalregister.gov, it will be open for review from stakeholders and the public, who can submit comments for 60 days. After that, the Justice Department “expects to issue a final rule that will lay out clear standards for public entities to comply with the ADA,” Gupta said.

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