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New York District Court Dismisses ADA Suit From Serial Litigator

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Accessibility in the News — 11/24/19.

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AITN Quote of the Week

“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Feature Story

The Eastern District of New York Provides Businesses an Early Holiday Gift in Strictly Construing Standing Requirements in ADA Title III Case

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  Epstein Becker & Green  |

For businesses growing weary of the seemingly perpetual wave of serial ADA claims (e.g., website accessibility; gift card accessibility), thanks to recent a decision issued by a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York (“EDNY”), some may believe that “Christmas came early.”  Last week, EBG achieved an impressive victory, obtaining a complete dismissal of a serial plaintiff’s class action complaint in the case Castillo v. The John Gore Organization…

National News (U.S.)

Accessibility Law Backfires As Agencies Take Down Web Pages

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  Governing  |

A state law intended to increase accessibility to public records online has had exactly the opposite effect. California departments and agencies are taking down documents because they can’t make them accessible to people with disabilities, at least not quickly and affordably. Government committed to transparency must do better. Things started innocuously enough. In 2015, the state auditor issued a report on how well people with disabilities could access information on state websites. It was far from glowing…

If there’s a wheel, there’s a way: Accessible trailers help disabled hunters get back outdoors

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  Iron Mountain Daily News  |

Michigan’s outdoors should be accessible for all people to enjoy. All too often, that isn’t the case. Whether it’s a lack of understanding or inaccessible facilities, outdoor spaces aren’t always welcoming to people with disabilities.

That’s starting to change, thanks in part to groups like the Bays de Noc Gobblers, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. For years, the Upper Peninsula-based chapter has utilized the federation’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen outreach program, which focuses on making the outdoors more accessible for hunters…

Practice Yoga Hires First ASL Yoga Instructor

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  Spectrum News  |

Practice Yoga will begin holding classes accessible to the deaf community after hiring its first ASL yoga instructor. Lilli Erin Beese moved to Austin two years ago from England. She studied for years to become a clinical psychologist. She and her husband, Nick Beese, wanted to live in a more deaf accessible city to raise their 10-year-old daughter, Ava. “Moving to Austin has been completely life-changing,” Nick Beese said. “The accessibility here is way different than what we were used to.”…

NYC Mayor’s OPD And SBS Release Accessibility Resource To Assist Small Business Owners

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  Harlem World Magazine  |

The New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), the NYC Business Improvement District (BID) Association, and Public Policy Lab are proud to announce the launch of Empowering Accessibility. Empowering Accessibility is a fully online resource that will enable New York City small business owners to more easily understand their legal obligations in order to ensure compliance with accessibility standards…

Crucial Decision Validates Fraud Whistleblower Suit

November 15, 2019   |  Source:  TRE Legal  |

In a crucial decision upholding equal access to the Internet, on November 5, 2019, a state court in Alameda County validated the legal bases underlying a fraud whistleblower complaint against Conduent, Inc. and Conduent State & Local Solutions for developing a public website that is inaccessible to people with disabilities. The website, ReserveCalifornia.com, is the portal that controls access to reservations to campsites, cabins, tours, and other activities in all 300 California state parks overseen by the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)…

Wearable Tech Is Failing People With Disabilities

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  OneZero  |

Fitbit just didn’t work for Keiran Kern, a marketer and wheelchair user from New Jersey. It wouldn’t record her actual steps — she thinks because she takes small steps — yet it did record “steps” when she was rolling along on her electric wheelchair. “This would be my calorie-burning dream,” she jokes, “but it’s not reality, and it’s not helpful.” Fitbit — which was recently acquired by Google for $2.1 billion — told OneZero the company understands that “one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to health and fitness, so we provide a range of devices, motivating software, and services to help support users on their health and fitness journeys.”…

LIC Luxury Tower Leaves Behind People with Disabilities, Lawsuit Alleges

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  The City  |

A Long Island City luxury tower topped by a rooftop sky lounge is a monument to disability discrimination, a federal lawsuit alleges. The Fair Housing Justice Center contends the developers, architects and owner of The Forge, a 272-unit Queens rental building, “openly ignored their legal obligations” and denied equal housing opportunities to New Yorkers with disabilities. Relying in part on an investigation by testers who posed as a couple seeking an apartment for a relative who uses a wheelchair, the nonprofit Fair Housing Justice Center alleges a litany of failures to comply with local, state and federal fair housing laws…

Want accessibility news more often? Follow us on Twitter! @A11yNewsHow my chronic illness changed my approach to work

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  Fast Company  |

At first, it can feel like hunger, fatigue, horniness, or undue excitement—an adrenal, bodily buzzing that increases in volume until it drowns out everything else. It escalates quickly from a curious sensation to an edict: food, now. The world fades away. I feel wrung out and shaky, a discarded rag. That 10 a.m. conference call never stood a chance. Disabilities are isolating, because no matter how poetic the metaphor, it’s impossible to live in someone else’s body. I was diagnosed with type I diabetes at age 14, so I’ve never known adulthood without constant vigilance over my body…

Who Decides Where Pennsylvanians with Disabilities Should Live?

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  National Review  |

In August, Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services announced its intention to close two large state institutions for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The department said that closing the Polk and White Haven state centers was necessary to best “honor the inherent value of every person” and ensure that “every Pennsylvanian can live an everyday life.” The implication of the department’s statement was clear: Parents, families, and the residents themselves hold their loved ones’ — or their own — “inherent value” in a lower esteem than does state DHS secretary Teresa Miller…

Grad student Heather Tomko fights for accessibility in Pittsburgh

November 19, 2019   |  Source:  The Pitt News  |

Heather Tomko wants accessibility to be a priority in daily conversations. Tomko, a graduate student and research assistant at Pitt’s School of Public Health, has a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, and has used a wheelchair since she was three years old. Throughout her life, Tomko said she has been an activist because the accessibility issues that affect her are often pushed to the side by others. “[Advocating] is just something that you have to do because there aren’t necessarily always others advocating for you,” Tomko said…

Blind Intelligence Analyst Sues FBI and Department of Justice

November 19, 2019   |  Source:  National Federation of the Blind  |

Joe Orozco, a blind intelligence analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2012, is suing the FBI and the United States Department of Justice for violating his civil rights under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The lawsuit alleges that technology Mr. Orozco is required to use in his job, some of which is proprietary, is inaccessible to him and to other blind employees, and that the FBI has offered no alternative means for him to access the information, data, and services available through this technology…

Uber discriminated against blind woman with dog, panel rules

November 19, 2019   |  Source:  ABC News  |

A panel in Maine has ruled that Uber discriminated against a blind woman when a driver refused to give her a ride because she was traveling with her guide dog. The Portland Press Herald reports the Maine Human Rights Commission voted Monday that Uber discriminated against Patricia Sarchi because of her visual impairment. The report says a manicurist ordered an Uber for Sarchi after an appointment in January 2017. The driver told Sarchi he could not give her a ride because she had her guide dog…

Defunding basic needs resources limits disability organizing of community spaces

November 19, 2019   |  Source:  The Daily Californian  |

We are disabled student organizers who have collectively spent hundreds of hours advocating for UC Berkeley’s disability community over the last several years. Last week, we wrote about the Recreational Sports Facility’s closure of its No Limits program and the change in the Student Health Insurance Plan, or SHIP, which disproportionately raised costs for students with chronic illnesses. We pointed to the ironic fact that the day that the chancellor wrote about the campus commitment to the “equity of experience” for the disability community was the day the campus also defunded No Limits…

Blind, Black And Booted From A High-Society Event In Oxford

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  Peter Slatin- Forbes  |

The story is simple and nasty: A blind postgraduate student from Ghana was pulled by his ankles from his seat at a meeting of the tony Oxford Union, a nearly 200-year-old debating society that is in the historic university town but independent of the university. The 25-year-old student, Ebenezer Azamati, was ejected from the hall even as he displayed his membership card to a security guard. No one intervened. The event took place October 17, but it took until November 19 for the president of the Union, Brendan McGrath, to resign as he faced impeachment and followed a host of staff and leadership resignations…

Ensuring Website Accessibility in the Self-Storage Industry

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  Inside Self Storage  |

People everywhere use the Internet as a primary source of information, but for those with disabilities, common barriers make much of the content inaccessible. Videos without captions or transcripts, the inability to adjust text colors and sizes, and images without alternative text all make online browsing difficult. Website accessibility is critical for all businesses, including those in the self-storage industry. If your website isn’t accessible for everyone, it can lead to legal issues…

When Things Go Wrong for Blind Users on Facebook, They Go Really Wrong

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  Slate  |

Last December, Tasha Chemel agreed to participate in a Facebook study. A professional academic coach at a college, Chemel had been blogging about Facebook’s problems with accessibility for blind people like her and complained directly to the company. She was used to not hearing back. But this time a Facebook envoy had humbly reached out, admitting “that Facebook is not as accessible as it should be, and the frustration with accessibility gaps you and others share with us is understandable.”…

Accessibility is like homework, it’s required but everyone treats it like it’s above and beyond

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  Maneater  |

There’s a value in being able to pick where you want to sit in class. It’s the reason college students tend to create their own assigned seating. For some, the only way to focus is to sit in the very front. For others, the middle calls to them. However, imagine if you didn’t have a choice. Rather than the assigned seating high school teachers seemed to enjoy, your seat is chosen by the institution. The level of access you have to the world is controlled by able-bodied individuals creating loopholes for accessibility, so you sit in the back…

Taking Responsibility For Accessibility

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  The Montclarion  |

The only elevator in the Student Center that offers passage beyond the second floor was broken on Nov. 11. While classes and events carried on as usual, students with disabilities were stranded. That same day, a monthly discussion group called Grub and Grapple was being held on the fourth floor. Hosted by the Office of Social Justice and Diversity (OSJD), the event was focused on the needs of students with disabilities. Trinity Corney, a junior journalism major and staff writer for The Montclarion, has cerebral palsy and was unable to reach the event at first…

Lawsuits Target Restaurants for Failing to Offer Braille Gift Cards

November 20, 2019   |  Source:  Yahoo & The National Law Review & Pepper Hamilton  |

Of course, it’s in a restaurant’s best interest to accommodate all potential customers, including and especially those with accessibility issues. But a new series of lawsuits highlights yet another way many restaurants and other businesses are leaving the visually impaired behind: gift cards. Most gift cards don’t include braille or even any distinguishing characteristics whatsoever. That has led to a growing number of restaurant chains having been sued in the past month for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because they do not offer braille versions of their gift cards, according to Restaurant Business…

How Would You Tweak Your Commute for Your Accessibility Needs

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  WNYC (Podcast)  |

WNYC’s Shumita Basu shares the latest from the “We The Commuters” survey on accessibility, which asked what single change would make the biggest positive difference in your commute. Listeners suggest crack-free curb cuts on sidewalks, redesigned subway turnstyles that allow room for riders with strollers or large packages to roll through, having clean public bathrooms in stations for people with chronic issues, captions for all aural announcements, and street level signs about train performance so that people don’t have to go up or down a flight of stairs only to learn the D train isn’t running…

‘I wish they knew we existed’: Disability Rights Commission informs citizens, city on accessibility

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  The Daily Cardinal  |

Pizza? Salad? Sandwich? A similar thought process usually goes through people’s minds when considering where to go for lunch, along with what you’re craving, how far away different restaurants are, how much time you have, how much money you’re willing to spend. But for many people, where to go for lunch depends on whether the restaurant requires stairs to access it. For Bella Sobah, the chair of Madison’s Disability Rights Commission, this is something she must take into consideration as a woman in a wheelchair with spinal muscular atrophy. And it’s something that she wants other people to be aware of too…

Opinion: Blocking the Disabled on the Web Means Blocking Innovation

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  WIRED  |

Without the inspiration and innovation of two disabled individuals, the digital world likely wouldn’t be what it is today. Yet that same world so summarily excludes disabled individuals today that we’re eliminating the very people we will need to solve the web’s future problems. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, our nation has worked to accommodate the needs of the disabled. Because of this, almost one in five disabled adults are now employed…

VPAT 2.X, The Evolution of the Accessibility Conformance Report | Part One: An Overview

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  Microassist  |

Both public and private entities are now held accountable for the accessibility of all components and services that comprise an entity’s “product.” Historically, there was a misconception that technology not directly under control of the purchaser provided some degree of protection. Recent actions under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 have shown that a product owner is responsible for ultimate accessibility…

The wheels on the bus still go round: accessibility of city buses

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  The Daily Cardinal  |

Though Madison’s metro system may soon be undergoing big changes with Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s new Bus Rapid Transit plan — accessibility has always been a constant focus for the city’s public transportation. The modernization of public transportation, while aesthetically pleasing and energy sustainable, does not always take into account ridership accessibility. From cashier and attendentless ticket kiosks to social media-based apps for municipal transit, cities are increasingly choosing to digitize over considering accessibility…

Why Is Accessibility Still A Problem? What Can We Do About It?

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  Forbes  |

This Fall, a news story about a brand-new library in Queens, New York went viral in the disability community. Some of the library’s most aesthetically striking features were also grossly inaccessible to people with mobility impairments. How can a new public building, designed from the ground up and approved by multiple layers of authority be so ostentatiously inaccessible? Disabled people in particular were outraged, but not surprised. It’s another example of a perennial question…

Websites, Apps, Accessibility, and Extraterritoriality Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  Georgetown Law Journal (PDF)  |

The federal courts are currently split as to whether websites qualify as “places of public accommodation” under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Neither side of the split, however, offers a satisfactory interpretation of Title III, especially because both sides fail to consider the potential extraterritorial implications of applying Title III to websites. This Note proposes to head off the inevitable extraterritoriality issue, and resolves the Title III split by establishing a bright-line rule: data centers—not websites or apps—are places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA…

Jack Fact — The European Commission estimates that 80 million EU citizens live with a disability, with this figure expected to increase to 120 million by 2020 due to the region’s ageing population.

Hit The Road Jack — What is the most accessible attraction in the UK?

International News

Smart Braille and motion sensitive wheelchairs could be the future of helping people travel

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  iNews- UK  |

People with all kinds of disabilities too often find that travel is one of the least accessible areas of life, in a world that isn’t designed to aid their needs, and quadriplegic people can face the greatest challenges of all. A group of inventors are doing their best to help, however, and it’s hoped a wheelchair that moves according to how the user sways their head will provide better mobility for people who do not have use of their limbs. The smart wheelchair has a motion sensor attached to the user’s helmet, allowing them to direct which way to go…

NCBI launches ‘cutting-edge’ digital accessible library

November 14, 2019   |  Source:  Siliconrepublic- Ireland & RTE- Ireland  |

The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NBCI) launched the country’s largest digital accessible library, Bookshare Ireland. The digital library is designed to support students with print disabilities – including vision impairment, blindness, dyslexia or any physical limitation for holding a printed book or text – who are attending higher or further education. It will provide access to more than 500,000 academic books and other materials in the student’s preferred format, such as PDF, audio or digital braille…

Greater Anglia rolls out accessibility training to frontline staff

November 15, 2019   |  Source:  Rail Advent- UK & Access and Mobility Professional- UK  |

Greater Anglia has introduced a new accessibility training course to improve overall customer service for disabled passengers. The company has commissioned a team of Accessibility and Inclusion trainers to deliver regular training sessions over the next two years to ensure its workforce can help improve the journeys of people with accessibility needs. The programme is also ‘disabled-led’, as the sessions are all delivered by disabled trainers, after Greater Anglia commissioned consultant, Sarah Rennie, to put together a team…

Wheelchairs rarely have problems rolling over SkyTrain platform gap, says TransLink

November 15, 2019   |  Source: Daily Hive- Canada  |

A photo post circling Facebook over the past week, detailing an incident where a person using an electric-powered wheelchair had an issue with boarding a SkyTrain car, caused some consternation over social media on the accessibility of the train system for people with disabilities. Janice Laurence wrote she was unable to board a new Mark III train at Waterfront Station on the Expo Line, claiming the train floor was not level with the platform. “I tried twice forward and twice backward. It was a painful jolt each time and scary to see the gap,” she wrote…

How Accessible Is Malta For Wheelchair Users? This YouTube Guide Has All You Need To Know

November 16, 2019   |  Source:  Lovin Malta  |

Malta’s accessibility is always a hot topic for conversation and the country has upped its efforts recently, but just how accessible do you think the island is for tourists with a disability? The video highlights the use of public transport when using a wheelchair, noting that users may more often than not need to ask passengers making use of the disabled spaces to move out of the way. It also lets tourists know that, as wheelchair users, they do have priority over prams and pushchairs…

Improving accessibility and inclusion in air travel

November 16, 2019   |  Source:  Arabian Aerospace- Dubai  |

Hosted by Emirates in their home city of Dubai, the Symposium welcomed guests from airlines, regulators and accessibility advocacy groups. The event is in line with an industry resolution agreed upon by IATA member airlines in June 2019, which commits to bettering the passenger experience for travellers with disabilities, both visible and invisible. “This event showed that collaboration and feedback are crucial. Through this gathering and other initiatives, airlines are seeking to establish a better dialogue between industry, advocacy groups and passengers themselves…

Sooke hosts forum to get input from people with disabilities

November 16, 2019   |  Source:  Saanich News- Canada  |

The Ministry of Social Development will host a community consultation to get feedback from residents with a disability and those who work with them. The initiative comes in anticipation of the drafting of new provincial laws and policies that will affect people with disabilities. The ministry’s consultation takes place in conjunction with the Sooke Region Region Communities Health Network. “We are asking for people who actually live with or work with disabilities to take ownership of their issue and contribute to the laws that will affect them,” SRCHN spokesperson, Christine Bossi said…

An artist & disability rights activist, Jesfer breaks all barriers to the road to success

November 17, 2019   |  Source:  NewzHook- India  |

34 year old Jesfer P was diagnosed with muscular atrophy at a young age. Today, he is Kerala’s one of the most popular ‘mouth painting artists’ who has made his mark in the art field. He has held many national and international exhibitions and has many accolades to his credit. Jesfer, who is a part of ‘Green Palliative’ is also a disability rights activist who is vocal about accessibility problems in Kerala. 34 year old Jesfer P was diagnosed with muscular atrophy during early childhood. A born artist, Jesfer’s tryst with paints and brushes began at a young age…

Enforce regulations on buildings’ accessibility

November 17, 2019   |  Source:  Business Daily- Africa  |

It is indeed quite shocking to learn that 94 percent of buildings in Nairobi are not accessible to blind people. This sorry state of events is despite the fact that there is a law that states that buildings should be accessible to people with visual impairment. The slow implementation of the Disability Act that was passed 15 years ago is quite shameful. It cannot be business as usual when a section of the society is denied access to basic services merely because of ineptness in implementing the law…

Delivering NDIS Plan: Longer plan duration and greater accessibility available now

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  Mirage News- Australia  |

The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Stuart Robert, today announced practical changes to NDIS planning that will see participants have the option to request longer plan durations of up to three years and receive their plan in a range of accessible formats. Minister Robert said the changes are being made as part of the Morrison Government’s plan to deliver on the promise of the NDIS, in particular, to deliver quality decision making and increased engagement…

Tetraplegic adventurer and businessman not defined by his wheelchair

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  Stuff- New Zealand  |

A Canterbury man says he was “blown away” by the lack of opportunities for people with disabilities when he lost the use of his own limbs in an accident nine years ago. Jezza Williams is now a finalist for a national disability entrepeneur award for his work developing an industry that “should have been opened a very, very long time ago”. The 44-year-old – who is “going on 18” – slipped over a waterfall while leading a canyoning tour in the Swiss Alps. He has since developed a business promoting tourism for all abilities…

Britons fear their bodies start to fail as they enter fifth decade

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  Daily Mail- UK  |

Britons believe their bodies start to fail during their 40s with knees, joints and eyes all showing signs of wear and tear, a study found. Knees start to creak at 47, hearing deteriorates at 49 and backs ‘go’ as early as 44, according to the poll of 2,000 adults. Our sense of smell begins to dull at 46 while almost three-quarters of people suffer joint pain daily in their late 40s. Worryingly, more than a tenth said their eyesight started to fail as early as their 20s. Almost eight in ten have noticed a marked deterioration in their body as they have aged, with most seeing changes between 37 and 40…

Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) To Have First-ever Accessibility Center For Disable Students

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  UrduPoint News- Pakistan  |

Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad will have its first-ever Accessibility Center to facilitate the physically challenged students of the university. The center will be inaugurated on November 25 with the support of QAU Alumni Association at Central Library of the university. A number of students with different types of physical disabilities were currently studying at QAU. Since the library services were provided on all four floors of the DRSM Library, therefore it was not always possible for such students to move freely in the library due to their disabilities…

People with learning disabilities ‘shut out of work’ by poor recruitment processes

November 18, 2019   |  Source:  People Management- UK  |

Inaccessible job applications are preventing nearly three in 10 people with a learning disability from finding employment, according to research by the UK’s leading learning disability charity. Mencap, which surveyed 1,625 adults with a learning disability from across the UK, discovered that 29 per cent of unemployed working age adults with a learning disability found it difficult to fill in application forms, preventing them from getting a paid job.

A quarter (26 per cent) said they had applied for jobs but had not got one, while 23 per cent said they did not know how to get a job…

Halifax’s accessibility advisory committee’s town hall dominated by talk of inadequate transportation

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  The Coast Halifax- Canada  |

A few dozen residents turned up for a Tuesday evening town hall discussion on accessibility in HRM at Cole Harbour Place. The Advisory Committee on Accessibility town hall panel included representatives from Halifax’s winter operations and recreation teams, 311 contact centres and more. Attendees made a point of discussing the state of Halifax’s accessible transit system, Access-a-Bus. Patricia Hughes, manager of planning and scheduling for Halifax Transit, told the audience that Access-a-Bus provides up to 15,000 rides a month…

City Hall is to update their records to identify wheelchair accessible housing in Cork

November 21, 2019   |  Source: Echo Live- Ireland  |

Cork City Council is set to update its housing databases to provide more accurate information on housing needs for the disabled and wheelchair accessible accommodation. Councillor Thomas Moloney has asked the council to review its social housing list and identify the number of households which require wheelchair accessible housing and maintain a register of wheelchair accessible housing occupants. Cork City Council has formed a working group within the housing directorate whose purpose is to provide a delivery pipeline with quarterly reviews…

Election 2019: Labour fails to set accessibility targets for ‘housing revolution’

November 21, 2019   |  Source:  Disability News Service- UK  |

Labour is refusing to promise that all the 150,000 council and social homes it would build every year would meet basic accessibility standards, despite the government facing legal action over its own failure to act on the accessible housing crisis. Labour has announced plans for a “housing revolution” that would use £75 billion in new funding to build 100,000 council homes (an increase of more than 3,500 per cent) and at least 50,000 “genuinely affordable” homes a year by the end of the next parliament…

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Have you received an accessibility demand letter because of your website or application? Please contact us for any questions you have about our accessibility services and how we might support your organization.

Services include:

  • Accessible Website and Application Development— We rely heavily on accessibility best practices and using HTML5 and ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) standards to build WCAG-compliant and human-tested accessible environments. Our teams are proficient in open source technologies such as WordPress, Drupal and Moodle, as well as custom frameworks in .NET, PHP, AngularJS, and other frameworks. Our Learning and Development team can also help you create accessible custom training.
  • Accessible Document Services—  Whether you’re dealing with a few or a warehouse of Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, or other files, there are several ways Microassist can enable your team to offer documents and materials that meet stringent accessibility standards.
  • Accessibility Remediation— Our accessibility remediation services help you fix existing materials so that they conform to WCAG, Section 504 and 508, Department of Education OCR, and ADA Title II/III requirements. We remediate websites, applications, documents, and elearning, recommending re-creation when that is more efficient and economical. Especially for website and applications, to find out what is in need of remediation, we’ll start with an Accessibility Audit.
  • Accessibility Training— With several courses available for developers, testers, and content creators, your team can become equipped to consistently and expertly produce accessible digital products and online environments.
  • VPAT®Evaluation Services— Primarily used by government purchasers and government vendors during the procurement and sale of ICT products and services under Section 508, a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT) attests to the accessibility of a given product or service. Contact us to make sure the VPAT you write or review is accurate and meaningful.

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