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Approaching Deadline to Submit Comments to Department of Justice on Web Accessibility of State and Local Government Entities

 

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August 8th is the deadline to submit comments to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Supplemental Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SANPRM) titled Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities. In other words, the DOJ is looking for comments on the regulation implementing title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that applies to accessibility of State and local government entities on the web.

An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published on July 26, 2010, revising the regulations implementing title II and III of the ADA. Since then, the Internet and the technology have gone through big changes and the DOJ wants to update its proposed regulation to adapt it to the technology changes. Even though this SANPRM is only related to title II, it will impact future regulation related to title III.  Title III applies to public accommodations and services operated by private entities.

The DOJ wants to gain a better understanding of the benefits and costs of a web accessibility regulation. Its SANPRM includes 123 questions that cover access requirements for web sites and web content of public entities, as well as benefits and costs of web access regulations. 

The following questions refer particularly to people with hearing and vision disabilities:

  • “Question 58….How does Web accessibility benefit people with vision disabilities?  Please provide any information that can assist the Department in quantifying these benefits.”
  • “Question 59….How does Web accessibility benefit people who are deaf or hard of hearing?  Is there any data or studies available that examine how often people seek and use sound when visiting public entity (or other) Web sites?  Please provide any information that can assist the Department in quantifying these benefits.”
  • “Question 106: How often do individuals with vision or hearing disabilities attempt to access synchronized media on public entities’ Web sites?” 
  • “Question 107: What do individuals with vision or hearing disabilities do when synchronized media is not captioned or audio described?” 
  • “Question 108: To what extent do persons with vision or hearing disabilities refrain from using public entities’ Web sites due to a lack of captioning or audio description?”

Go ahead and send your comments before August 8th by clicking the Submit a Formal Comment button on the Federal Register Page of the SANPRM. So far, only 20 comments have been submitted. 

Approaching Deadline to Submit Comments to Department of Justice on Web Accessibility of State and Local Government Entitie