ION Professional eLearning Programs

  https://www.highereddive.com/news/colleges-title-ii-digital-accessibility/715265/ Great article on the new Title II rules.  "Nearly every piece of digital material hosted by a local government will need to be compliant, including web content that is password protected. Some exceptions include archived web content for recordkeeping or reference that has not been updated since the entity’s compliance date kicked in, pre-existing social media posts, and content posted to a government site or mobile app by third parties, unless those contributors have a contract, license or arrangement to post to government websites." "Given the scope of potential web accessibility improvements, the deadlines may be tough to meet for school districts and universities that have lots of digital content not already accessible under the WCAG standard..."

  DOJ Final Rule on Website Accessibility for State and Local Governments Portends Significant Changes for Private-Sector Websites "The DOJ makes clear in its explanation accompanying the new rule that it intends to apply the same standards to those entities that receive federal financial assistance under the Rehabilitation Act, because, after all, state and local governments generally also receive federal financial assistance. Certain industries―such as healthcare and higher education―consist of businesses that almost always also receive federal financial assistance. As a result, those industries can expect that the same rules will eventually apply to them."

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that aims to update the regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to add more specific requirements about web and mobile application (app) accessibility. The Need for the Rule State and local governments provide many of their services, programs, and activities through websites and mobile applications (apps). When these websites and mobile apps are not accessible, they can create barriers for people with disabilities. For example, individuals who are blind may use a screen reader to deliver visual information on a website or mobile app as speech. If a website does not include text describing an image (sometimes called “alternative text” or “alt text”), individuals who are blind and who use screen readers may have no way of knowing what is in the image