There are an estimated 18,000 blind, deafblind and visually impaired individuals in Virginia, and their use of the internet can be a struggle.
Efforts by the legislature to require state and local agencies to become more accessible failed during this year’s general assembly session, but a study of new state compliance rules is underway in Richmond.
Bonnie O’Day, a longtime advocate for the visually impaired with American Foundation for the Blind, showed off the impairment assistive technology reading content from a website. A computer generated voice reads each word and alternate description used on photos as she swipes through the web page.
And at a meeting of the Public Body Procurement Workgroup Tuesday morning, they brought up a bill from Delegate Kathy Tran which would have set new website accessibility standards, making them more friendly to assistive technology, across the state. But the bill failed and was instead kicked to a study.
The good news? 88% of state agency websites met accessibility standards.
The bad news? The thousands of local agencies and school systems that are yet to comply.
“So, we have a large price tag on this,” warned Chris Carey with Meta Services, a consulting group that works with agencies to address their IT needs. Carey said the cost of getting so many localities in compliance could be as much as $500 million dollars.
And lacking funds from the legislature, Carey called any future rules an "unfunded mandate" that would burden localities.
Korey Singleton is with Virginia Higher Ed Accessibility Partners. He spoke in favor of new compliance rules. While he understood concerns about costs, he said uneven enactment was an ongoing issue.
“It’s not happening now broadly. Institutions are electing to do it but very few are electing to do it,” Singleton told Radio IQ. "I know most state entities aren't well equipped or well-resourced to address the issue in the future - procurement, getting venders on board, would help"
Meanwhile Bonnie O’Day, who was part of then-President Bill Clinton's disability advisory team, said compliance is a necessity beyond any cost.
“Being accessible to people with disabilities is a part of doing business,” she told Radio IQ after the meeting. "And if you're a public agency, that public includes individuals who have all kinds of disabilities."
The procurement committee will make recommendations ahead of the 2025 legislative session.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
