Business owners, legal teams, web and communications teams, and website and application developers are experiencing a wave of legal actions and civil rights complaints. These actions—and the resulting court decisions—are stretching society’s understanding of what constitutes online discrimination. This “digital accessibility primer” provides key terms related to digital accessibility litigation. It also outlines significant legal cases reflecting how the ADA and related laws are being applied to an increasingly digital[…]
READ MORE about What Lawyers Need to Know: A Primer on Digital Accessibility Terms and Today’s Legal LandscapeMicroassist Articles Published in Lexis-Nexis Mealey’s® Commentary
The following commentaries were first published in Mealey’s Litigation Reports. Mealey’s is a trusted source litigation news for more than 30 years and provides coverage of legally significant developments.
Microassist's technology and learning development team have contributed accessibility articles to Mealey's for over two years.
How Accessible Should My Digital Content Be? Understanding WCAG Conformance Levels
What does it mean to be accessible? What determines accessibility compliance for your digital content? Sure, there’s a standard (typically WCAG 2+). But how do you know what level of WCAG conformance is right for you, your organization, and legal expectations? Accessibility Standards: The Foundation of a Solid Accessibility Strategy What does it mean for digital content to be accessible? That is, what does it mean for digital content to[…]
READ MORE about How Accessible Should My Digital Content Be? Understanding WCAG Conformance LevelsIntroducing VPAT® 2.0, the More Stringent Accessibility Reporting Tool Required for Government IT Procurement
Accessibility reporting requirements for government IT just got tighter—Here’s how VPAT® 2.0 affects vendors, purchasers, and people with disabilities. *NOTE: The Information Technology Industry Council has released subsequent minor VPAT revisions, available on the ITIC VPAT® web page. Read more about the VPAT® 2.3 updates. Where there’s government, there’s technology. And where’s there’s government technology, there’s a requirement to be accessible to people with disabilities. For 20 years, United States[…]
READ MORE about Introducing VPAT® 2.0, the More Stringent Accessibility Reporting Tool Required for Government IT ProcurementOCR Website Accessibility Complaints Hit Schools and Universities
From Rural Districts to Prominent Universities, Education Organizations Face a Tidal Wave of OCR Website Accessibility Complaints An onslaught of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) targets public and private school websites that are inaccessible to people with disabilities. These OCR website accessibility complaints say that these public-facing websites—and other digital materials from K-12 and higher education organizations—fail to comply with federal law and[…]
READ MORE about OCR Website Accessibility Complaints Hit Schools and UniversitiesDon’t Forget The Documents: Minimizing ADA Accessibility Liability In Online PDFs
PDF Document Accessibility is Critical for Your Website Leslie Janek is a document accessibility specialist for Microassist. She has remediated or otherwise made accessible specialized content ranging from K-12 science, technology, engineering, art, and math to higher education coursework, and other public and private sector content. In addition to PDF document remediation, Leslie consults with clients on remediation strategy, and creates and delivers training on how to create accessible PDF[…]
READ MORE about Don’t Forget The Documents: Minimizing ADA Accessibility Liability In Online PDFsPolicy-Driven Adoption for Accessibility (PDAA): Adding Vendor Governance Evaluation to State Procurement
This article was originally published in the August 2016 issue of Mealey’s™ Litigation Report: Cyber Tech & E-Commerce as “COMMENTARY: Policy-Driven Adoption For Accessibility (PDAA), Adding Vendor Governance Evaluation To State Procurement” and is also available for download as an accessible PDF. Mealey’s is a subscription-based information provider and a division of LexisNexis. The challenge of procuring software that is perceivable and usable by people who have vision, hearing, mobility,[…]
READ MORE about Policy-Driven Adoption for Accessibility (PDAA): Adding Vendor Governance Evaluation to State ProcurementMobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 2 of 2
Mobile App Accessibility Pitfalls, Plus an Intro on Testing for Accessibility. By Sanjay Nasta and Paul J. Adam (About the Authors) This article discusses mobile accessibility best practices. It is adapted from the August 2017 issue of Mealey’s™ Litigation Report: Cyber Tech & E-Commerce. Mealey’s is a subscription-based information provider and a division of LexisNexis. Copyright © 2017 by Sanjay S. Nasta and Paul J. Adam. Any commentary or opinions do not reflect the opinions of[…]
READ MORE about Mobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 2 of 2Automated Web Accessibility Testing Tools: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Automated Checkers
Checking your website for accessibility? Great! But automated testing tools catch only 10-30% of errors. Learn where they excel, fail, and how to use them. Here’s How to Incorporate Automated Web Accessibility Checkers in a Robust Accessibility Compliance Program This article on automated web accessibility testing tools is reprinted, with updates and changes, from the May 2017 issue of Mealey’s™ Litigation Report: Cyber Tech & E-Commerce. It was originally published as[…]
READ MORE about Automated Web Accessibility Testing Tools: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Automated CheckersMobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 1 of 2
Critical Development Considerations for Mobile Application Accessibility By Sanjay Nasta and Paul J. Adam (About the Authors) This article adapted from the July 2017 issue of Mealey’s™ Litigation Report: Cyber Tech & E-Commerce. Mealey’s is a subscription-based information provider and a division of LexisNexis. Copyright © 2017 by Sanjay S. Nasta and Paul J. Adam. Any commentary or opinions do not reflect the opinions of Microassist or LexisNexis, Mealey’s. Why Mobile Application Accessibility? Does mobile accessibility matter? […]
READ MORE about Mobile Applications and Litigation: Why Accessibility is Important and What to Consider before Launching, Part 1 of 2Meeting Legal Accessibility Standards: Open Source Software
Open source accessibility isn’t guaranteed for themes, plugins, or products. Furthermore, organizations are not absolved of contractual and legal obligations to deliver accessible products. This post adapted from the article, “Meeting Legal Accessibility Standards: Open Source Software—‘Actively Maintained, Highly Rated’ Does Not Equal ‘Highly Accessible,’” originally published in the May 2016 issue of Mealey’s™ Litigation Report: Cyber Tech & E-Commerce. Mealey’s is a subscription-based information provider and a division of[…]
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