The American Council of the Blind, National Disability Rights Network, National Federation of the Blind and more than 170 other disability organizations signed a letter published today, calling for the Department of Justice to finalize rules for online accessibility. According to the letter, the rulemaking process began in 2010 “under Titles II and III of the ADA” but was withdrawn in 2017. Last year, US representative Ted Budd (R-NC) led the re-introduction of a bill proposing an Online Accessibility Act, which was initially introduced in October 2020.

In today’s letter, addressed to assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke, the signees urged “the Department of Justice to maintain this rulemaking process as a priority and finalize a rule by the end of the current administration.” It states that while the DoJ has held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) includes websites and other technologies critical to accessing a business’ services, it has “failed to define when and how they should be accessible.”

Efforts to come up with these rules have ebbed and flowed. The letter noted that “In 2018, the Department reconfirmed its position that the ADA applies to the internet but never completed rulemakings that were begun in 2010 under Titles II and III of the ADA and withdrawn in 2017.”

The result is an online world where people with disabilities struggle to get their needs met. According to WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind), about 97 percent of the 1 million pages evaluated had WCAG 2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) failures. These issues ranged from using low contrast text and missing form input labels to empty buttons and missing alt text for images.

“The absence of digital accessibility regulations in the intervening time period has resulted in persistent exclusion of people with disabilities from digital spaces covered by the ADA,” the letter notes. It also highlights issues like “persistent barriers in telehealth accessibility,” particularly for deaf users. While there haven’t been quantitative studies on intersectional disabilities and how they relate to online accessibility, the letter states “anecdotal reports suggest that the vast majority of DeafBlind people are completely unable to utilize telehealth as it currently exists.”

An American Foundation for the Blind study that’s cited in the letter found that almost 60 percent of educators surveyed in Fall 2020 reported “their blind and low vision students could not access one or more of the digital learning tools they were expected to use in class.” 

As the world increasingly lives and conducts business online, it’s crucial that the digital world is accessible by design. The letter points out that “These findings are neither exhaustive of all website-related issues nor comprehensive of the entire disability community.” There’s a lot of work and research still to be done. 

“The disability community is large and diverse, facing access issues that continue to grow and evolve with the ever-changing landscape of websites and applications.” Having a set of rules in place will help enable clearer communication and implementation of the tools that will make websites (and apps) accessible to all. 

Source: Engadget – Disability organizations call on DOJ to finalize online accessibility rules

Facebook is “restricting access” to two Russian state media outlets across the entire European Union, a move that will prevent the publishers from sharing content to millions of people in the countries. Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, announced the block of RT and Sputnik, saying that it was in response to “a number” of government requests from within the EU.

“Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time,” Clegg said. The change comes after the European Commission enacted its own ban on the outlets, and after Facebook had already blocked access to ads and other monetization features. The social network had also blocked the publications’ ability to post content inside of Ukraine. 

Clegg didn’t elaborate on whether “restricting access” referred simply to these accounts’ ability to post and share inside of these countries, or if the accounts would be completely inaccessible in the EU. We’ve asked Facebook for more details.

The move comes as Russian State media outlets, some of which have vast social media followings, find their reach increasingly limited. Facebook and other platforms have taken more aggressive measures to tamp down the influence of Russia-backed publications in recent days as there has been a sharp rise in disinformation. Twitter announced Monday that it would label tweets from Russian state media accounts, and would try to curb their influence on the platform. YouTube has also blocked the outlets’ ability to monetize their channels. 

Source: Engadget – Facebook restricts RT and Sputnik across entire EU

Forza Horizon 5 is about to become more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. On March 1st, Microsoft will update the title to add support for both American and British Sign Language. Enabling the feature adds a picture-in-picture display of an ASL or BSL interpreter during cutscenes. By visiting the game’s accessibility menu, you can adjust the position of the display and decide whether to add a colored background.