This document discusses digital accessibility for local governments. It defines digital accessibility as when technology is designed so that people of all abilities can fully access experiences. It reviews laws requiring accessibility, examples of digital content, and definitions of disability. The importance of accessibility is discussed, noting that over 1 billion people worldwide have a disability. Tips are provided for governments on engaging people with disabilities, ensuring the technology they use is accessible, and following standards like WCAG. Questions from attendees are taken at the end.

1. Digital Accessibility: What
Local Governments Should
Know
Jonathan Avila, Chief Accessibility Officer
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2. What is eScribe?
eScribe is an end-to-end meeting management software that empowers
governments, school boards, and citizens to build communities together, easier.
By streamlining complicated administrative tasks, simplifying meetings, and boosting
transparency, eScribe helps public sector organizations focus on what matters most
while opening avenues for citizen engagement and participation.

3. Agenda
1.What is digital accessibility?
2.What kinds of laws are in place to ensure technology is accessible?
3.How do people with disabilities use technology?
4.Why is it important for governments and organizations to ensure the digital world is
inclusive of people with disabilities?
5.Q&A
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4. Accessibility is an outcome of
inclusive experiences
• Digital accessibility is when
− Technology is designed and
developed so that people of all
abilities can equitable and fully
access the experience
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5. Examples of digital content
• Mobile apps
• Websites
• Web apps
• Documents
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Social media posts
• Emails
• Support materials
• Videos
• Intranet sites
• Electronic training materials
• Kiosks
• Other electronic devices, services,
and products
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6. Disability
“It’s not if you will become disabled – but when”
• Disability is when a person’s abilities are a
mismatch between them and the environment
− People have a continuum of needs based on
situation and values of society they live in
• Blind, visually impaired, Deaf, hard of hearing,
motor, speech, cognitive/intellectual,
neurological, neurodiverse disabilities
• Invisible or situational disabilities
• Intersection between disabilities
• Some people use assistive technology and
augmented communication features
• Correlation with age and disability
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7. Why digital
accessibility
matters
You know more people with
disabilities than you may realize!
Worldwide:
• One billion people have a disability,
• That’s about 15% of the world population
• Technology has become dominant way of access
In the United States:
• 1 in 4 American Adults has a disability (CDC)
In Canada:
• 6.2M Canadians 15 years or older have disabilities. That’s
22% of that population.
• Public sector laws require technology to be accessible
• Inaccessible technology leads to litigation, negative attention
on social media, damaged relationships with the community,
and prevents equal participation for people with disabilities
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8. Impact
“We don’t have anyone with a disability who works here”
“I can’t participate in school board meetings because I’m
blind”
• The design and build of an experience has the power
to include or exclude people.
• Considerations for access can increase involvement
and community or isolate and limit – simply by
unintentional oversight or lack of action
Success
• Design materials to be inclusive of all people
• Involve people with disabilities early on
• Take and implement feedback
• Better engage people of all abilities
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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

9. Social Change Driven by Culture, Legislation, and Business
Laws such as the ADA,
AODA, and ACA
prohibits discrimination
against individuals
with disabilities
in all aspects of public life.
As a result, we saw
physical locations
installing ramps, parking
spots and rails to
accommodate those with
physical disabilities.
In the last 10-20 years, many
people and organizations have
argued that the same provisions
should cover websites and
software for people with
disabilities; the world agrees –
as do many regulatory bodies
and court rulings
"Even in the absence of a formal commitment
from the top, grassroots accessibility efforts
driven by passionate teams or individual
employees are making it happen at
48% of companies." (Forrester)
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10. How do people
with disabilities
use technology?
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11. Personas – it’s all about real people
Suman is blind
and uses a
screen reader
on her mobile
phone to read
documents and
fill out forms.
Joe has low
vision and uses
browser zoom
and high contrast
to use online
services.
William has
cerebral palsy
and uses a
head-pointer
with keyboard
to access
software apps.
Sadaf is deaf
and uses
captions to
watch videos
and uses sign
language to
communicate.
Lakeisha has a
cognitive disability
and uses text
processing
software to
highlight important
information and
hear it read aloud.
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12. Technology used by people with Disabilities
• People with disabilities will often, but not always,
use assistive technology based on their individual
needs
• Assistive technology or access features increase,
maintain, or allow access to technology
• Can be prebuilt into technologies like Windows,
macOS, iOS, Android, etc.
• You likely use accessibility features everyday
without knowing
− Pinch to zoom on smartphones, audiobooks,
captions, predictive text, screen magnification, etc.
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13. Technology used by People with Visual Disabilities
Blind or low vision
User Needs
• Access to non-text content, keyboard
access, information and relationships
Technology
• Screen readers (JAWS for windows,
NVDA, Voiceover, Talkback, etc.)
• Refreshable braille displays
• Optical Character Recognition
• AI and object recognition
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14. Technology used by People with Low Vision
User Needs
• Sufficient text size, readability,
contrast of text/non-text, &
focus indication
Technology
• Large text/browser
zoom
• Screen magnification
• Increased/High
contrast/Dark mode
• Cursor/focus
enhancement
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15. Technology used by people who are deaf/hard of hearing
User Needs
• Synchronized access to audio, input without
speech, & effective communication
Technology
• Captions
• ASL/LSQ interpreters
• Video & telecommunication services:
− Text and video relay
− Communications access real-time translation
− Real-time text and Video chat
− Captioning systems (text-speech/ speech-text)
• Show sounds and visual notifications
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16. Technology used by people with motor disabilities:
User Needs
• Device independent access, target size,
and pointer accommodations
Technology
• Switch control
− Built into macOS, iOS, and Android
• Eye tracking
• Head pointers
• Touch accommodations
• Speech-to-text
− Dragon
− Windows Speech recognition, etc.
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17. Technology used by People with Cognitive Disabilities
User Needs
• Access to text, customization of UI,
reading/writing support, non-reliance on
cognitive function requirements
Technology
• Text-to-speech
• Optical Character Recognition and AI
• Tools to increase focus and reduce
distractions
• Tools for customization of colors, fonts,
spacing, word lookup, disabling animation
• Word replacement with icons
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18. Why invest in digital
accessibility?
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19. Invest to:
Meet regulatory
obligations and avoid
legal/brand risk
Create more
usable, innovative
experience for
everyone
Reach your entire
community of
potential employees
and users
The Bottom Line: If organizations want to get serious about hiring and including People with Disabilities,
they must take steps (including adjustment of policies and procedures) to ensure technology is accessible.
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20. What can governments,
schools, and businesses do
about it?
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21. Engage People with Disabilities and Build Awareness
• Communicate with people that have disabilities and build your awareness
of how they’re impacted by inaccessible digital content
• Get real user feedback to address practical accessibility barriers rather
than exclusive focus on conformance to general standards
• Talk about digital accessibility and its impact to build awareness
• Explore local meetups, online trainings, and events
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22. Ensure the tech you ask people to use is accessible
• Understand if the technologies you ask people to use (employees, constituents,
students, families) are accessible to people with disabilities
− Reach out to vendors and third parties to ask and confirm accessibility
− When considering a technology, ask for a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) and make
this part of your buying criteria for all technology purchases
• Make sure people with disabilities can provide feedback and contact you if they
experience barriers
• Make sure there is a formal process and plan for accessibility that includes training
people on creating inclusive content
• Have a process and tools to monitor accessibility of sites and track conformance with
the standards
• Consider adopting an accessibility statement to demonstrate commitment
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23. Follow Digital Accessiblity Standards
WCAG is an international Voluntary Consensus standard
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Level A and AA adopted by many state, local, provincial, education, non-
government organizations, US Government, and the EU
• Current version is 2.1 – 2.2 due 12/2022; WCAG 3.0 due out end of 2026+
• Set of web-technology-neutral success criteria
• Can meet each criteria in different ways – no specific required techniques
that must use
− Document known failures and known sufficient techniques
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24. What questions do you have about accessibility?
? ? ?
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25. Thank You!
Have a question or comment?
Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
@jonavilaa11y