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Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024: ProudCity and local government websites

Posted on May 16, 2024


Logos of Global Accessibility Awareness Day and ProudCity

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day. To celebrate, ProudCity is sharing how we approach and support accessible local government websites.

GAAD and digital accessibility 💥

  • “The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments.” (GAAD)
  • “Digital accessibility refers to the ability of people with disabilities/impairments to independently consume and/or interact with digital (e.g., web, mobile) applications and content.” (GAAD)

How government fares 📋

The 2024 WebAIM Million report found:

  • Gov websites had an average of 20.3 homepage errors.
  • “Some sectors, such as government and education, fare much better than others indicating regulation and supports have a positive impact on accessibility.”

The law (websites, PDFs) 📜

U.S. Department of Justice has new accessibility rules for local government websites and PDFs. Department of Civic Things shares what you need to know.

Requirement:

Deadlines:

  • April 2026: 50,000+ pop.
  • April 2027: 50,000 and under

Exceptions (must meet all four):

  • Created before the compliance date
  • Use solely for reference, research, or recordkeeping
  • Stored in a designated archive area
  • Hasn’t been changed since it was archived

Accessible PDFs📄

We advise not using PDFs (reasons why).

If you do:

How ProudCity thinks about accessibility 🧠

  • It’s a team sport.
  • And a journey.
  • Not a plugin, pop-up or one-time site scan.
  • Everyone is trained on best practices.
  • Product development is transparent.
  • Accessibility issues are documented publicly.
  • Compliance is the starting point.
  • Always improving is the finish line.

ProudCity open accessibility 📖

Win or fail, open is the best approach to accessibility.

How we do this:

  • Get ongoing feedback from government
  • Publicly document all issues
  • Prioritize and address based on resources
  • Push updates to all government partners

Our done/doing ✅

Accessibility issues that are:

Up next 🔮

New and improved coming soon:

Go deeper ⛏️

Thank you ❤️

This work happens with all of our government partners.

Special thanks to:

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