U.S. Attorney-General on Overlays: Cites Community Group Work
U.S. Attorney-General Addresses Accessibility Overlays in Ruling
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) addressed accessibility overlays, as nearly a dozen commentors had requested, in its recently released ADA Title II regulatory ruling. In its response DOJ cited this community group’s work on post-source and related edge technologies. This acknowledgment of our published definitions and comparative analysis highlights the continuing and pivotal role that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) can play.
DOJ expressly states it takes no position on specific technologies. Rather they express a concern for accessible results regardless of the technologies employed. This mirrors our approach in
our Capabilities document where we dispassionately review the implications of accessibility solutions throughout the web stack feature by feature. To paraphrase, the DOJ acknowledges it’s the results that matter, not the technologies used to achieve the results. This is important because the DOJ regulations are the law in the U.S. and tend to influence global opinion such as EU standards.
W3C Community Group’s Report Cited in Title II ADA Regulation
The DOJ solicited comments prior to its ruling, and received nearly a dozen comments, pointing to a dozen web pages and other references, on topics that overlap with our concerns. The final ruling cites only this report.
To read the Attorney-General’s announcement go here:
www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-publish-final-rule-strengthen-web-and-mobile-app-acces+s-people. For the actual ruling, open the Federal Register document and look for the section on Overlays.
You’ll find our Community Group draft Capabilities document expressly referenced in footnote #369. In the Federal Register it is footnote 263. The footnote reads, “See W3C, Overlay Capabilities Inventory: Draft Community Group Report (Feb. 12, 2024), https://a11yedge.github.io/capabilities/ [https://perma.cc/2762-VJEV].
We thank our corporate members and individual contributors as captured in our document. If you’re not active with us–it’s not too late to join!
Here’s to continued success and innovation in providing more options towards making the digital world accessible to all!