Accessibility News
Communicating your accessibility efforts
By Karen Pellegrin (she/her), TAP Manager
Developing solid documentation on your accessibility efforts and the progress you are making is an important way to demonstrate your commitment to digital accessibility and strengthen your position in potential lawsuits.
To best position your organization for accessibility compliance, we recommend you post quarterly progress-to-date reports on your public websites. Although this is required in accordance with the Grace Period Bill, HB24-1454, this regular documentation of your progress can also be valuable in legal proceedings.
Progress-to-date reports can be added to your online accessibility statement and address concrete and specific efforts toward compliance with OIT’s Technology Accessibility Rules. Providing updates beginning as soon as possible and updating them quarterly will demonstrate your organization’s commitment to accessibility. If you haven’t posted updates yet, you can get started now by using OIT’s optional template Evidence of an Accessibility Plan.
Example progress reports:
- Colorado Department of the Treasury
- Colorado Secretary of State
- Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration
After expiration of the Grace Period Bill on June 30, 2025, you should continue to post a progress-to-date report and keep it updated either quarterly, or at a minimum yearly, to ensure that this valuable documentation stays current and available.
Accessibility Essentials
When will OIT adopt WCAG 2.2?
By Laurie Kubitz, TAP Senior Accessibility Consultant
The current Technology Accessibility Rules, 8 CCR 1501-11, were adopted on April 14, 2024. OIT plans to review the rules annually to determine if any changes are needed, including whether to shift from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 to WCAG 2.2. In the meantime, below are things you can do now to prepare for WCAG 2.2.
Content creators
The primary concern for content creators is the Consistent Help criteria. Make sure that all help or support content is on your site, that it can be found on multiple pages and can be found consistently in the same place on the pages, including:
- Support contacts (email, phone numbers)
- Links to help pages and FAQs
- Chat widget
- Accessibility statement
Developers
- Begin integrating 2.2 updates to code into development sprints.
Procurement and product owners
- Make sure your platforms and platform vendors are integrating 2.2 into their platforms and that they have a roadmap for 2.2 compliance.
- If you plan to have a website or application manually tested, make sure the testing team is using WCAG 2.2 A and AA criteria.
- Ensure that WCAG 2.2 success criteria are added to your system requirements and compliance is included in your statements of work for all new platforms and updates.
Please note that you do not have to wait for the rulemaking process; you are welcome to share feedback about the Technology Accessibility Technology Rules with OIT and the TAP team at OIT_accessibility@state.co.us or oit_rules@state.co.us at any time!
Accessibility and You
Advocacy can be hard. Radical Healing can help!
By Beckie Bean, TAP Accessibility Consultant
Is advocating for accessibility in your organization making you feel tired? Does the psychological labor of doing this work open up old wounds from your past? Do you wish you had tools to help you arrive as your best self to work each day? If you answered “yes” to any (or maybe even all) of these questions, you may benefit from radical healing!
The Radical Healing Framework can help accessibility practitioners and people with disabilities make work more effective and authentic, while taking steps to preserve your mental health. It can also help you frame your accessibility work through an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) lens.
Though the Psychology of Radical Healing framework was originally developed for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) psychologists and healers, many of the themes and practices in this framework are universally helpful for members of other historically marginalized communities, including people with disabilities.
Radical healing involves being or becoming whole in the face of identity-based “wounds,” which are the injuries sustained because of membership in a historically marginalized group. Because we are unable to travel back in time, the task of radical healing involves working to change the current manifestations of these deep and still open wounds.
How Aira has become a crucial asset to my work day
By Christine McGroarty, Fiscal and Administrative Services Branch Chief at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
The Aira mobile app as an accommodation has been a lifeline and a game changer for me, both in my personal life and at work.
Prior to workplace changes due to COVID-19, I generally relied on my coworkers for assistance with accessibility challenges at work. My preference is to perform all tasks without having to ask for help, even if that takes me a little longer with my screen reader. However, there are some tasks that cannot be accomplished without vision and a mouse. When I was in the office, there were always a few people around who could click the mouse for me when there was no other option.
When most of my colleagues started working from home, my mouse-clicking helpers were no longer available. Without Aira, I would have been unable to perform my job or would have needed to hire someone to read for me. A personal reader would have been costly and inefficient, as I would have had to save up all my inaccessible tasks until I had sighted assistance. As many of my work tasks are high priority and time-sensitive, waiting for an occasional human reader was an impractical solution. Without Aira in the work-from-home environment, I would have had to consider applying for disability retirement and ending my career while still in my prime earning years.
I generally use Aira 5-10 times each week to accomplish otherwise inaccessible work tasks. For each of the last few months I have used approximately 200 minutes with Aira agents. Recently, I called Aira three times in one day! I called once to sign an inaccessible form to authorize a person’s salary increase, then again to translate a screenshot associated with a time sensitive request from leadership, and finally to approve employee leave requests in the state’s inaccessible time keeping system.
Aira is critical to my professional success and the sense of accomplishment and well-being that comes from being a productive, contributing member of society.
Notable & Quotable
“When accessibility is part of an organization's DNA, integrated into teams' processes, it becomes a sustainable long-term practice.”
- John Avila, Chief Accessibility Officer at Level Access