WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Standards for Accessible Laws?

for

From: Wolfgang Berndorfer
Date: Dec 16, 2018 11:59AM

Sounds unbelievable! Is there no citizen or lawyer working with AT demanding
accessible laws in the USA or EU?



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] Im Auftrag
von <EMAIL REMOVED>
Gesendet: Samstag, 15. Dezember 2018 19:47
An: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Betreff: Re: [WebAIM] Standards for Accessible Laws?

Given that in the US, Congress and its sub agencies (Govt Publishing Office,
Library of Congress, Congressional Budget Office, etc.) are exempt from all
laws, I don't know of anything on the books at the federal level re:
accessibility of legislation. These agencies themselves voluntarily adopt
legislation, such as Sec. 508 and equal employment, but they are not
required by law to do so.

Example: The US Federal Register https://www.federalregister.gov/
Not only are the Register's PDFs untagged, but the website itself has
accessibility issues.

So if the agency that records and publishes our US federal legislation
doesn't make the information accessible, I wonder how likely it is that
there would be any US federal standards for accessibility of legislation.

Related: see the US federal government's style manual for other publishing
requirements at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL
-2016.pdf
Doesn't have one word about accessibility, but it does have a section on
formatting the Congressional Record.

Hint: we here in Washington just make the laws for you "little people." We
don't actually practice them! <sarcastic grin>

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | <EMAIL REMOVED>
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting • training • development • design • sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —
Latest blog-newsletter – Accessibility Tips at www.PubCom.com/blog