2022

You are reviewing articles published in 2022.

Deja Vu All Over Again? DOJ’s Current Efforts to Adopt Web Accessibility Regulations for State and Local Governments

Posted on Updated on April 8, 2024
[Note: this article was first written in August 2022 when the United States Department of Justice announced its intent to adopt technical accessibility regulations for state and local government websites and mobile applications. Follow along with what has happened since then in the Update section of this article] The ancient Greek story of Sisyphus tells… Read more… Deja Vu All Over Again? DOJ’s Current Efforts to Adopt Web Accessibility Regulations for State and Local Governments

Proposed web and software accessibility legislation introduced in United States Congress

Posted on Updated on November 20, 2023
On September 28, 2022 the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act was introduced in both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. (This is called “bicameral legislation” because the same proposed bill was introduced in both parts (Senate and House ) of the US Congress.) In the Senate the bill was… Read more… Proposed web and software accessibility legislation introduced in United States Congress

New regulations for kiosks and self-service transaction machines? We’ve been here before.

Posted on Updated on June 22, 2023
On September 21, 2022 the United States Access Board, a federal government agency, issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) about kiosks. The Notice is about the details for making self-service kiosks (alternatively referred to as self-service transaction machines (SSTMs)) independently usable by people with disabilities. The image accompanying this article is an… Read more… New regulations for kiosks and self-service transaction machines? We’ve been here before.

Early Win (and Settlement) for Deaf Plaintiff in VR Captioning Lawsuit

Posted on Updated on April 4, 2023
In 2020, lawyers for Dylan Panarra, a deaf man, filed a cutting edge lawsuit against the HTC corporation, one of the biggest electronics companies in the world. The lawsuit stated that HTC violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because there is no captioning on the company’s Virtual Reality (“VR”) content. The first court ruling in the case came on April 15, 2022. Read more… Early Win (and Settlement) for Deaf Plaintiff in VR Captioning Lawsuit

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2023
I finally read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I thank the Twitter accessibility community for ensuring that I did not miss this 1979 classic. Adrian Roselli’s Twitter profile got me curious: What is a “hoopy frood” I wondered, and why does its towel location deserve a spot in a Twitter 160… Read more… The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Two US Government Agencies Warn about Hiring Technology that Discriminates against Disabled Applicants

Posted on Updated on January 1, 2023
The unemployment rate for people with disabilities in the United States is at an unacceptable high rate. As the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated in a February 2022 informational release: “Across all educational attainment groups, unemployment rates for persons with a disability were higher than those for persons without a disability.” Two new resources from the US federal government address one type of barrier to the employment of disabled people: Algorithmic and Artificial Intelligence (AI) hiring tools that discriminate. Read more… Two US Government Agencies Warn about Hiring Technology that Discriminates against Disabled Applicants

Podcasts Need Transcripts: December 2021 lawsuit against SiriusXM

Posted on Updated on August 29, 2022
On December 9, 2021, the National Association of the Deaf (“NAD”) and Disability Rights Advocates (“DRA”) filed a lawsuit against SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora. The companies do not provide transcripts or captions for podcasts. (Sirius purchased Stitcher in 2020 for 325 million dollars. In 2019 it acquired Pandora in a $3.5 billion all-stock transaction.) The… Read more… Podcasts Need Transcripts: December 2021 lawsuit against SiriusXM

#ADA32: The ADA has applied to digital for decades

Posted on Updated on August 15, 2022
Recently I had the opportunity to ask an audience the first words that came to mind when I said “law in the digital accessibility space.” I heard what I often hear: “threatening” “ambiguous” “confusing.” Yet I heard something else too. I heard reference to the law in the digital space as a “powerful enabler”and a… Read more… #ADA32: The ADA has applied to digital for decades

Path-Breaking Accessibility Elder Sharron Rush Wins National AARP Prize

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On July 28, 2022, AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) announced winners of the organization’s prestigious Purpose Prize for 2023. AARP, with over 38 million members, is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the United States. It chose Sharron Rush, founder and executive director of the digital accessibility consultancy Knowbility, as one… Read more… Path-Breaking Accessibility Elder Sharron Rush Wins National AARP Prize

Digital Accessibility Legal Updates on LFLegal (May 1 – July 10, 2022)

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Below you will find new and updated articles about the digital accessibility legal landscape posted on this website since May 1, 2022. This is a time (like many) when I’m holding two conflicting realities. First, the law continues to recognize the right of disabled people to participate in the digital world (law = good). At… Read more… Digital Accessibility Legal Updates on LFLegal (May 1 – July 10, 2022)