WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: University Resources

for

From: jp Jamous
Date: Apr 20, 2025 2:18PM

Reading your original email Brian, it requires a clarification to answer it correctly. Are you referencing accessibility through WCAG or State jurisdictional laws? I am going to answer it presuming that you are referencing WCAG.

If purchasing or obtaining any value from that third-party that is relevant to that original business services or products, then the third-party content must be accessible. Otherwise, that would break the business requirement. For example, businesses go the extra mile to research which third-party gives them the best digital integration with a cost-effective service. However, they never ask about accessibility and WCAG does not enforce that. This immediately makes the original business not liable if the third-party content is not accessible.

In today's digital ecosystem Businesses integrate heavily with other businesses to provide products and services. From signing contracts, to surveys, to payment processing. It is unfair that WCAG or ADA does not target this significant business concept as it should. Imagine if a payment system does not use SSL to encrypt credit card information. What would happen to people's business transactions? In fact, Block-Chain technology stemmed from business integration to strengthen SSL, once SSL became penetrable by hackers.

I stated above that it is unfair, because I have dealt with this recently. I have a couple of businesses that are assisting me in purchasing a property. Both of them are accessible except their document signature programs. They are both aware of my challenges with those third-party systems, but they already have ongoing contracts with them. We are not talking here about a small purchase. We are discussing lengthy contracts to purchase a property worth over $250,000.

Sure that type of contractual agreement between businesses is not easy to break out of especially if it is a long-term commitment. Yet, there has to be some way to hold businesses accountable to a certain degree of identifying accessible third-parties content before they integrate their systems. Unfortunately, WCAG and the ADA do not handle this commitment as essential, despite how integrated web sites have gotten. That really shows how far behind the 8-ball we are as a society that is trying to embrace inclusion.

I hope that helps.