The “April is Fair Housing Month” content series continued April 24 by focusing on digital and website accessibility. Christine Walz, Partner with Holland & Night, presented “Clicking Through: Website and Digital Accessibility Requirements.” During the session, Walz discussed legal requirements for websites and digital accessibility, including the current state of the law and how businesses can comply.
Walz began by defining digital accessibility, noting that websites, tools and technologies that are accessibly designed and developed ensure that individuals with disabilities can use them. Walz outlined that there are several laws, both on the state and federal level, that govern accessibility – specifically noting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Act.
Walz noted that while the ADA predates the internet, and therefore does not specifically call out websites, the Department of Justice has expanded its interpretation and published guidance that deems websites as public places, meaning they are also expected to be accessible. Walz called out that there are several pieces of proposed legislation that would expand or clarify current website accessibility requirements.
Walz stated that the WCAG guidelines are the de facto standards that businesses should meet for website accessibility. These guidelines are written as criteria that individuals should follow; they are not written as law which presents problems for full compliance. Under the WCAG there are four principles that Walz noted for content: It should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Each of these principles are broken down into other success criteria.
Following this overview of guiding principles, Walz then outlined the current landscape of lawsuits being brought against companies with non-accessible websites and what companies could do to ensure accessibility.
The full “April is Fair Housing Month” webinar schedule is available at naahq.org/webinars.