Digital Accessibility News

(KMAland) -- Iowans with disabilities said the state could be doing more to make public places more accessible and inclusive. In the new legislative session, the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council also wants lawmakers to make more money available to address dramatic staffing shortages. For the 12.5% of Iowans living with a disability, lack of accessibility is an ongoing issue....

Bananagrams Inc. faces a class action lawsuit alleging its website is not accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals, a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Plaintiff Lamar Brown is legally blind and requires screen-reading software to access website content on his computer, according to the class action lawsuit. He says he intended to purchase the classic version of the Bananagrams game from...

SEATTLE — For students with disabilities in Washington, the right to free special education services lasts until the end of the school year in which they turn 21. A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court recently says this age cutoff violates federal law. The suit, aimed at the state’s education agency, seeks to raise the cap to 22 years old. It argues that under the...

On November 28, the Congressional Research Service published a paper entitled “Federal Hiring of Persons with Disabilities.” The findings of the paper are neither surprising nor controversial, and state, in part: “Despite efforts to increase recruitment and hiring of persons with disabilities, retention of employees with disabilities is significantly lower than that of employees without disabilities. According to OPM, employees with disabilities leave the federal...

A legally blind woman from New York filed a class action lawsuit against Gamefly.com, a popular gaming retail website, alleging the company makes its content inaccessible to legally blind people who use screen-reading software. Plaintiff Jovan Campbell claims that other major retail sites make use of technology to help visually impaired individuals navigate sites, such as alternative text, accessible forms, descriptive links and resizable text....

For the first time in a decade, the Department of Justice will issue a report on agency progress in meeting accessibility requirements under Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. DOJ told the Senate Special Committee on Aging in a Nov. 14 letter that it has been working with the General Services Administration and will release the mandated report in the coming weeks....

In late November 2022, the Department announced the launch of the new and improved version of ADA.gov. Our goal for this revamped website is to better empower people to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as understand their rights and others’ rights, by creating and maintaining a website that is modern and user-centered. “With the new and improved version of ADA.gov,...

The recent turmoil with Twitter has prompted many online disabled people to think more deeply about what they really need and want from social media platforms. Anxiety and debate over the direction of Twitter under Elon Musk’s ownership is affecting nearly every corner of Twitter, and of all online communities. Users and business partners wonder about Musk’s ability to manage the company and the application...

In the 19th century, an art form known as lithophanes was all the rage in Western Europe. These thin engravings were usually made from translucent materials like porcelain or wax. When backlit, a glowing 3D image would appear that would change its features in response to variations in the light source. Now researchers have revived this art form to create tactile graphics to illustrate scientific...

While many companies have examined diversity through the lenses of race and gender, neurodiversity is often overlooked — but this tech giant is putting their inclusive hiring efforts front and center. Neurodiversity recognizes the difference in how people experience and interact with the world around them, and includes those with autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia, or Tourette's syndrome. But these differences could cause companies to exclude...

Barnes & Noble failed to design and maintain its website so that it would be fully accessible for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, a new class action lawsuit alleges. Plaintiff Daniel Rodriguez, a legally blind man, claims Barnes & Noble violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by allegedly not making its website fully accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals....

The Department of Justice plans to file its first report in a decade on the accessibility of federal government websites, following a bipartisan push in Congress. “The Department of Justice ... recognizes the critical importance of accessible technology to millions of Americans with disabilities,” the DOJ said in a letter received Monday by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who had written to the department in June...