New ADA Rule Is a Much-Needed Step Toward More Accessible Government Services

WASHINGTON—Following an announcement that the U.S. Justice Department has issued a final rule clarifying state and local governments’ obligations under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to make their websites and mobile applications accessible for people with disabilities, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro:

This new rule is an important step forward in creating a more inclusive digital society. As more and more government services move online, it is critical that state and local governments ensure their websites and mobile apps are fully accessible for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, many government services do not yet meet this standard. In previous testing, we found that two out of five state government websites were not accessible.

This week’s announcement clarifies that under the Americans with Disabilities Act people with disabilities should have equal access to government services online. State and local governments should act swiftly and without delay to update their online services to conform with global standards for web accessibility.

For more on this issue, see: “Benchmarking State Government Websites” (ITIF, August 2018).