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Rachel Pulver

Professor Comeaux

ENG 102: First-Year Composition

15 April 2019

Equal Rights For Web Accessibility

December 19, 2009 I was diagnosed with an astrocytoma tumor in the cerebellum region

of my brain. At the completion of all three surgeries, I was faced with the latent factor of being

visually impaired due to the crushing impact that the brain tumor had on my optic nerves, which

caused them to atrophy. At the age of ten I had become part of a minority that would forever be

fighting an uphill battle for equal rights to live and experience the beauty of life despite having a

disability. The disabled community has fought for equal rights and was finally given their first

triumph with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ,a civil rights law, which stated under section 504

that no person could be discriminated under any program or activity that was being funded by the

government. This was the first victory of many including the Americans with Disabilities Act,

which came latter. However, with the changing times and advancements in society there is

always unforeseen problems that come arise, which have directly impacted individuals within the

disabled community. The 21st century has unequivocally been set part by the innovations that

technology has provided to the people of the world. With technology comes the advancement of

living and changing life styles. The main concern is how these technological advancements are

not being reasonability adjusted or accommodated to the disabled community, thus, leaving them

behind in the past. Web accessibility for websites and mobile apps need to be adapted to the

individuals in the disabled community by setting clear and precise legislation for third parties to

carry out in their cyber spaces.

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When referring to reasonable accommodations and disability law many individuals

including law makers turn to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to decide and declare

actions concerning individuals with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act was

enacted in 1990 and was amended in 2008. The purpose of these laws are to eradicate and limit

discrimination for persons with disabilities within employment, state and local government

services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation; both public and

private entities are affected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (Sauld). When looked at from

a distance, this is seen as a positive. These laws act as clear guidelines for the law and entities to

follow, thus, eliminating discrimination and providing equal opportunities for individuals with

disabilities, but how clear are these laws? Nevertheless to show this point, in 2015 there was over

40 web accessibility law suits against American businesses. One can only image the amount of

law suits today. The article titled Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Accessibility

Requirements for Video states:

“The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the most far-reaching piece of

accessibility legislation in the US. But since it was signed in 1990, it does not explicitly

address web accessibility” (Sauld). The article goes on by saying, “It has been up to

lawyers and judges to determine how the ADA applies to online content, and while the

law remains open to interpretation, the prevailing wisdom is that the ADA extends to

digital information, products, and services” (Sauld).

This is a real big concern when addressing web accessibility when the most far reaching

piece of legislature protecting persons with disabilities, Americans with Disabilities Act, does

not concretely lay out and state rules and regulations for web accessibility for entities to follow.

Having to read between the lines and interpret something that is not there is a perfect storm for
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disaster that will unfortunately not by choice cause discrimination toward the vast community of

disabled persons.

The article titled Absence of U.S. Regulation Leads to Web Accessibility Lawsuits

emphasizes the importance of having consistent and stable laws directed toward managing web

accessibility for persons with disabilities by referencing to the Department of Justice,

Today the Internet, most notably the sites on the web, plays a critical role in

the daily personal, professional, and business life of most Americans.

Increasingly, private entities of all types are providing goods and services to

the public through websites that operate as places of public accommodation

under title III of the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]. Many websites

of public accommodations, however, render use by individuals with

disabilities difficult or impossible due to barriers posed by websites

designed without accessible features (Roggio).

The changing world of today’s society undeniably relies on the internet for

work and play. Technology has downloaded its hardware into society’s blueprint

making web accessibility for individuals with blindness, visual impairments,

cognitive impairments, deaf, hard of hearing, those who are prone to seizers and

much more a pressing matter that can no longer be seen as a pretty suggestion that

can be shrug off as wishful thinking or a task to be done another day, another

month, another year. It is a substantial concern for individuals’ rights in America.

Accessibility for the internet among the disabled community is a required necessity

to be success and independent.

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Carrying out a solution for this problem is an obligation that the justice system needs to

uphold and take on as a serious matter. In the past the Department of Justice has fallen short in

their responsibilities concerning the matter at hand. On September 25, 2018 the Department of

Justice sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives addressed to the Honorable Ted Budd, a

congressman. The Department of Justice started out by referencing the purpose of their letter,

which was related to the congressman’s previous letter to the Department of Justice about

website accessibility for public accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The

contents of the letter reminded the reader of December 26, 2017 when the Department of Justice

published a Notice of Withdrawal of Four Previously Announced Rulemaking Actions in the

Federal Registration of 82 Fed. Reg. 60932, in which two of the withdrawals were directly

related to the accessibility of web information and services under the Americans with Disabilities

Act. The following quote is taken out from the Department of Justice’s letter clearly explaining

what rulemaking statues were being renounced, “The first withdrawn rulemaking (RIN 1190-

AA61) covered accessibility of web information and services of public accommodations. The

second withdrawn rulemaking (RIN 1190-AA65) covered accessibility of web services of state

and local governments” (Feingold). Taking away rulemaking statues is not going to help with the

web accessibility issue. In fact, it is going to further corrupt this problem.

Additionally, the Department of Justice states that, title III under the Americans with

Disabilities Act has applied to web accessibility 20 years ago (Feingold). If that is so then why is

the congressman, Ted Budd, writing to the Department of Justice about this topic? The

Department of Justice has the audacity in their letter to further state that they are still considering

if implementing set rules and regulations toward web accessibility is appropriate due to title III’s

existence, but title III does not mention the internet once, so yes, it is appropriate. Later on, in the
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body of the letter, the Department of Justice says, “The Department has consistently taken the

position that the absence of a specific regulation does not serve as a basis for noncompliance

with statute’s requirements” (Feingold). This is apparently not true, because web accessibility in

America even with the Americans with Disabilities Act is still presenting problems for the

individuals in the disabled community.

As a result of this problem is the necessity for a solution that needs to be enacted within

the American justice system and the legislative process. The Americans with Disabilities Act

needs to be amended with an additional title that includes web accessibility rules and regulations

for third parties to reference and enforce in their cyber spaces. This is the first step to fixing this

broken system and providing equal opportunities for individuals in the disabled community.

Now the question is what type of rules and regulations should be permanently written down in

the scrolls of web accessibility to make certain that these rules are clear and precise for

individuals to follow after the creation of the web accessibility amendment.

There is a third-party organization by the name of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),

which has produced guidelines for web developers and designers along with any other entities

that use web platforms. This document is called WCAG 2.1 which stands for Web Content

Accessibility Guideline. The document has twelve guidelines, which fall under four principles;

perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. The guidelines cover alternative text, captions,

content that can be presented in alternative ways and formats, provides ways to make it easy for

individuals to see and hear content, educates creator on how to embed keyboard commands,

shows how to give enough time for users to read and see content, instructs how to create content

that does not cause seizers or physical reactions, and conveys to creators how to make content

easy to find, see and hear.

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Moreover, to make sure that the rules and regulations of the new amendment concerning

web accessibility toward the Americans with Disabilities Act is efficiently sustainable the World

Wide Web Consortium’s WCAG 2.1 should be the new amended added to the Americans with

Disabilities Act under web accessibility. This would be a beneficial action on behalf of web

accessibility statues, because it has already been established and is already being used by third

party entities to withhold their cyber spaces. As of right now, the guidelines in the WCAG 2.1 is

a optional tool, but once integrated as an amendment companies will have to abide and follow,

thus, eliminating the discrimination toward the disabled community. This is a fight that needs to

be fought and to be realized is a problem that many face on a daily. The solution will not be easy,

but nothing that is of great importance is.

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Works Cited

Feingold, Lainey. “Department of Justice Affirms ADA's Coverage of Websites.” Law Office of
Lainey Feingold, 28 Sept. 2018, www.lflegal.com/2018/09/doj-cut/.

Roggio, Armando. “Absence of U.S. Regulation Leads to Web Accessibility

Lawsuits.” Practical Ecommerce, Practical Ecommerce, 15 Dec. 2015,
www.practicalecommerce.com/Absence-of-U-S-Regulation-Leads-to-Web-Accessibility-
Lawsuits.

Sauld, Samantha. “Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Accessibility Requirements
for Video.” 3Play Media, 26 Feb. 2019, www.3playmedia.com/2019/02/26/ada-video-
requirements/.

“Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview.” World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C), www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag-new.

w3c_wai. “WCAG 2.1 at a Glance.” Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI),

www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/.
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