Accessibility News
Call For Feedback: Draft Amendments to the Technology Accessibility Rules
By Karen Pellegrin, TAP Manager and Alice Huyler (she/her), Senior Policy Advisor, OIT Rulemaking
The Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) invites state and local governments and all public entities to share their thoughts about the Technology Accessibility Rules. These rule updates are intended to provide further clarity regarding how to comply with the state law and associated rules, as well as to better align with existing federal law, including the ADA Title II rules which were promulgated in final form after the state rules went into effect.
We invite you to join us for virtual sessions on Thursday, March 20 to discuss your feedback on the current framework and opportunities for improvement. We’ll discuss the proposed amendments to the current rules and welcome your review and feedback. You may also send written comments through the online form or email oit_rules@state.co.us by March 21.
- Registration to attend feedback session option 1, March 20, 10 to 11 a.m.
- Registration to attend feedback session option 2, March 20, 2 to 3 p.m.
OIT is committed to providing equal access to our meetings for all participants. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation to attend and participate in this meeting, please contact oit_rules@state.co.us.
The proposed amendments, developed with the Governor’s Office and Department of Personnel and Administration, focus on the following targeted areas:
- Clarifying the specific technologies to which the standards apply (e.g., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for web content vs. Section 508 for certain types of hardware).
- Aligning exceptions to State rule with equivalent exceptions to federal rule, with a particular focus on:
- Archived web content
- Pre-existing conventional electronic documents
- Content posted by a third party
- Individualized, password protected or otherwise secured conventional electronic documents
- Pre-existing social media posts
- Clarifying and aligning with federal laws regarding undue burden and reasonable modifications for external facing technology, and undue hardship and reasonable accommodations for internal facing technology.
- Potentially adding further detail on how government entities handle complaints.
Rulemaking schedule:
- March 17 - 21: annual review and early stakeholder input
- March 31: proposed rules released
- March 31 - April 30: stakeholder input
- Early May: public rulemaking hearing
- Early May: adopt rule amendments
- June 30: rule amendments go into effect
Please do not hesitate to contact the rulemaking administrator at oit_rules@state.co.us with any questions or if you would like to be included in future notices of rulemaking events. You can find more information as well on the OIT Rulemaking Webpage.
Accessibility Essentials
Accessible Fonts - Part I
By Rosa Calabrese, TAP Senior Accessibility Trainer
You’ve probably heard about the importance of using accessible fonts in webpages and documents, but what does it really mean? People with low vision or cognitive disabilities may have difficulty reading text that uses decorative or irregular typography, so a best practice is to use simple and nondecorative fonts, especially for body text.
I have ADHD, which is a cognitive disability. Like many people with ADHD, I sometimes have reading difficulties. Though ADHD by itself can make reading more difficult, some people with ADHD may have co-occurring learning disabilities such as dyslexia. While I read a lot, I am still a slow reader, especially when the design and format of text are complicated or cramped.
A lot of modern design relies on decorative typefaces such as those in cursive or handwriting styles, but these can be very difficult to read, and they sometimes force me to slow down a lot when reading to take more time to decipher letter shapes.
Sans serif and serif fonts are much better to use for accessibility, and each have their own pros and cons. Serif fonts, which use extra strokes at the edges of characters, (e.g., Times New Roman) may be simple to read and distinguish between any two characters, but the addition of extra strokes can create extra visual information. That can be overwhelming especially if there is not enough spacing between lines of text. On the other hand, sans serif fonts (literally translates to without serifs) do not have extra strokes, which creates an easier visual experience. However, without the extra strokes, certain sans serif characters can appear very visually similar to each other, such as between zeros and capital Os or uppercase Is and lowercase Ls.
To be accessible, fonts must be easy to read for users with low vision and cognitive disabilities. Beyond the visual appearance of type, fonts must also be designed and embedded correctly to be accessible to screen reader users. Next month, I’ll go over other important considerations for accessible fonts.
Accessibility Tips
Google Meet Reactions Now More Accessible
By Kelly Tabor, TAP Communications Manager
*Applauding hands!* In February, Google rolled out some changes to the Google Meet reactions including new accessibility features that offer a more equitable experience for users who are blind or low-vision and use screen readers. Here’s a summary of the new reaction options:
- Don’t announce reactions: No announcements or sound for reactions.
- Play a sound for all reactions: Play a sound when a reaction appears.
- Announce all reactions: Announce only the reaction emoji, for example, “Thumbs up”.
- Announce all reactions and senders: Announce the emoji and who sent the reaction. For example, “Beckie Bean and two others reacted with thumbs up”.
To customize how you hear reactions, press Shift+R or click on the three vertical ellipses at the bottom of the screen, choose Settings, and then choose Reactions. Settings will persist from meeting to meeting.
For more details on the new reactions features, visit the Google Workspace Update blog.
Notable & Quotable
“Now, more than ever, Americans need to double down on accessibility. 85 million of your friends, co-workers and neighbors are counting on you.”
- Sheri Byrne-Haber, multi-award winning values-based engineering, accessibility and inclusion leader