If you can’t make it accessible by July 1, 2024, what’s your plan for accommodation?
HB21-1110, Colorado Laws for Persons with Disabilities, makes it a state civil rights violation for a government agency to exclude people with disabilities from receiving services or benefits because of lack of accessibility. To that end, all state agencies and local governments must be compliant with state standards (Technology Accessibility for Web Content and Applications) by July 1, 2024.
Planning for accessibility and accommodations
There are several important steps to consider when planning for accessibility:
- Create an inventory of your internal and external digital touchpoints (e.g., websites, documents and applications).
- Prioritize your digital touchpoints.
- Test to evaluate the current level of accessibility.
- Create a roadmap for making them accessible (remediation).
- Include a plan for accommodations where accessibility can’t be addressed by the July 1, 2024 deadline.
What is the difference between accessibility and accommodation?
To put it plainly, accessibility is a proactive solution to provide equal access to all. Accessibility is the goal that the state of Colorado is earnestly working toward.
Accommodations are a reactive and many times costly response to addressing special cases. Accommodations may mean that information has to be maintained in multiple places and formats, or that an in-person service can’t be closed because an online service cannot be accessed by all of those who need it.
“Accessibility is the baseline of equal service, and accommodation is the second step to take when accessibility alone isn't enough.” Disability Thinking
Illustration by the University of Minnesota, Accessibility Vs. Accommodation
In this illustration:
- Panel one shows a tall, a medium and short person each standing on the same size box to view a soccer game over a wooden fence. The short person cannot see the game. This demonstrates how inaccessible design excludes people.
- Panel two shows the same three people, but each person is given the appropriate support to give them equal access to the game. The tall person has no box, the medium size person has one box and the short person is standing on two boxes. All three people can see the game over the wooden fence. This is a good way to see how accommodations give access to whoever is there at the moment. They often require extra work.
- Panel three shows that all three people can see the game without any supports or accommodations because they are watching over or through a chain link fence. Accessible design means that current and future viewers will have access, without extra work.
Accessibility planning tools
Accessibility Planning Guide and Templates for state government only.
Accessibility Planning Template for local governments. This template is provided as a guide; it is not required for local governments to submit an accessibility plan to OIT.
Accessibility Law & Planning for Local Governments guide for local government only.
Top Three Accessibility Tips That Everyone Can Use Today
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Headings: People with cognitive and learning disabilities and people using screen readers can more easily find and prioritize content on the page when content is structured properly.
- Do: Always include one descriptive page title and nest headings according to their level.
- Don’t: Skip heading levels. Don’t design your own headings using bold and font size.
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Images: Images can cause barriers to people with disabilities, but when they are made accessible, they can improve the experience for all.
- Do: Always include alternative text (alt text). Be descriptive in presenting the same content and function of the image as clearly as possible. Only use images that serve a purpose. When in doubt, it’s best to sacrifice beauty for accessibility and usability.
- Don’t: Use the phrases “image of” or “table of” as this is usually clear to the user. Don’t use images of text unless it is part of a logo and the alt text includes the logo text.
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Links: Using descriptive text in links helps people with dyslexia, cognitive disabilities and those who rely on screen readers to scan for important content.
- Do: Write link text so that it makes sense out of context and describes the content of the link target. The purpose of the link should be clear like, “Chat with an agent” or “Services and resources.”
- Don’t: Use link text like, "click here" or "read more."
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