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Top “Accessibility in the News” Topics of 2017

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Department of Justice building. Microassist Accessibility in the News photo.

Every Week We Curated the Hottest Accessibility and Disability News Headlines—More than 2,000 this Year!

Here are Our Top 10 Accessibility News Stories and Topics of 2017.

This was a busy year for pivotal accessibility and disability news. Government policies and judicial actions weren’t always predictable, but their impact will continue for years to come. Innovation had a prime seat at the table, with techniques, tools, and approaches from industry giants and smaller groups alike. Legal actions and civil rights complaints made headlines nearly every week, affecting retail, food services, banking, education, travel and transportation, and more.

Please take a moment with me to review the topics that made headlines most often, heavily influencing the accessibility conversations of the year. Each of these solidly earned their place as one of the Top “Accessibility in the News” Topics of 2017 (Have changes/additions/suggestions? Let us know in the comments!):

  1. Department of Justice Website Accessibility Regulations and Rulemaking
  2. Winn Dixie, Dominoes Web Accessibility Decisions Get the Spotlight as Web Accessibility Lawsuits Rise
  3. Uber Struggles with Wheelchair Transport and Equitable Services
  4. Travel Apps Make Finding Accessibility Services Easier
  5. Google’s Accessibility Services Opens Doors to Security Vulnerabilities
  6. New Technologies and Innovations from Industry Giants and Lesser Known, but Remarkable, Creators
  7. Education Organization Websites Targeted for OCR Complaints
  8. Section 508 Refresh Incorporates WCAG 2.0
  9. Refresh Wanted for the International Symbol of Access
  10. Ultra-Accessible Texas Water Park Gets National Attention

Department of Justice Website Accessibility Regulations and Rulemaking

Just a few days ago, the Department of Justice officially quashed any near-future clarity regarding website accessibility regulations, announcing that it was withdrawing its two related advanced notices of proposed rulemaking. Years in the making and with several deferments along the way, the DOJ’s Advanced Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) related to website accessibility was most recently scheduled for 2018, and were expected to provide clarity on ADA online compliance  requirements. Earlier this summer however, the DOJ moved that rulemaking to “inactive status.”  That left any decision making up to the courts, resulting in varying decisions.

With the plug officially pulled (See December 26, 2017: DOJ Officially Pulls the Plug on Regulations Already on Life Support, National Law Review), it looks like 2018 will see no slow down in legal actions taken against organizations with inaccessible websites. In chronological order, here are top news and commentaries on DOJ ANPRM developments in 2017:

Winn Dixie, Dominoes Web Accessibility Decisions Get the Spotlight as Web Accessibility Lawsuits Rise

In the absence of DOJ rulemaking, different court decisions made web accessibility “tea leaf reading” a bit tricky. According to Poytner, “Since the beginning of 2015, at least 750 website accessibility lawsuits have been filed in federal court, with at least 432 cases filed in the first eight and a half months of 2017.”

Of the ones this year (Dick Blick, Warby Parker, GrubHub, and many, many more), two decisions that generated a lot of commentary were Robles v. Dominos Pizza LLC, which was dismissed, and the oft-labeled historic Gil v. Winn Dixie Civil Action No. 16 -23020-Civ-Scola, which said yes, websites must be accessible for organizations deemed public accomodations:

Uber Struggles with Wheelchair Transport and Equitable Services

Internationally, the smartphone-enabled ride hailing service, found itself ping-ponging between accessibility and inaccessibility across various aspects of its business. From its apps to its services to its vehicles, its service, or lack thereof, to people with disabilities put Uber in the hot seat more often than not.

Uber featured quite heavily this year. For more accessibility-related news on Uber, simply search “Uber” on the Microassist website.

Travel Apps Make Finding Accessibility Services Easier

Getting from one place to another is just one aspect of enjoying any travel location, and taxi services aren’t the only services affected. What about public transportation, or the retailers and restaurants you actually visit? Several apps, including Google maps, aimed to point travelers, commuters, and students with disabilities to accessible locations and services.

Google’s Accessibility Services Opens Doors to Security Vulnerabilities

While application development provided vital accessibility information to those with disabilities, the accessibility services features used on Google device applications left a back door open to ne’er do wells. In an attempt to tighten security, Google cracked down on developers using its accessibility services for non-accessibility-related functionality.

New Technologies and Innovations from Industry Giants and Lesser Known, Remarkable, Creators

Refreshable Braille tablets. Driverless cars. Wearables. The telecommunications capabilities now available to us have enabled smart “Aria” glasses for the blind to be coupled with live guides talking through a transmitted video feed provided by the glasses wearer. A journalist paralyzed for more than twenty years uses a high-tech exoskeleton to walk, new glasses enable a man born without optic nerves to read the abundance of text in his environment, and accessible computer applications provide a voice to a young college author and presenter with cerebral palsy. Innovation never ceased in 2017. The potential for additional product and service advancements is truly remarkable.

Education Organization Websites Targeted for OCR Complaints

In addition to the rise in legal actions against businesses, there’s been an increase in Department of Education Office of Civil Rights complaints filed against K-12 and institutions of higher education for inaccessible websites and technology.

Section 508 Refresh Incorporates WCAG 2.0

On January 18, 2017, the United States Access Board updated the nearly 20-year-old, static accessibility standards within Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The “refresh” incorporated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 by reference, aligning the federal government standard for accessibility more closely with the web accessibility guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. These guidelines take effect in January 2018.

Refresh Wanted for the International Symbol of Access

The accessibility icon has been in place for 40 years. Does it need a refresh, too?

Ultra-Accessible Texas Water Park Gets National Attention

Being Austin-based and Texas-bred, many of us here at Microassist have a soft spot for our neighbor to the south. Soft spot or not, however, San Antonio got national attention this summer for the first-of-its-kind, fully accessible splash park. Together with Dollywood’s Splash Country (Tennessee) and Sand Castle Waterpark (England), Texas’s Morgan’s Inspiration Island advanced the summer entertainment options available to families and individuals with disabilities.

We had several runners up, such as the ‘Cure Period’ legislation that is intended to provide an opportunity for business owners to fix accessibility issues before being taken to court and the University of California at Berkeley’s removal of thousands of inaccessible videos (a carryover from 2016 news and DOJ decisions), but I’m sure you also have some ideas of high-impact accessibility stories.

If so, what were they? Comment below. I’d love to hear what struck a chord with you in 2017, and what you expect to see around the bend.

Thanks for all your support of Accessibility in the News. Please share this with your friends, and encourage them to sign up for the weekly newsletter

Wishing you all the best in 2018,

Jack

Editor’s note: This edition of Accessibility in the News was originally published following the initial activity in the Gil v. Winn-Dixie case.  The case is back in the headlines following the decision of an appeal filed on behalf of Winn-Dixie.  For the latest news around this and other cases referenced above visit our Accessibility in the News, Legal Edition archives.


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