[Colorado-Talk] Showing Up At a January 23 Zoom Public Hearing

Fri Jan 12 20:14:02 UTC 2024

Greetings everyone:

Shown below please find the official comments submitted to the Governor's
Office of Information Technology by the National Federation of the Blind of
Colorado. While written comments are no longer being accepted, the public
(that is, you, me, and everybody else) is invited to a public online hearing
which will take place on January 23 at 1:00 p.m. The link to register for
this hearing is shown here.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcudOCorDwuGtf8Yuf_MTn0ZBKY2GkwWJe
m#/registration
<https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcudOCorDwuGtf8Yuf_MTn0ZBKY2GkwWJ
em%23/registration> 

I know that this business of reviewing and writing comments about
governmental rules can be laborious, confusing, tedious, and thoroughly
boring. Since a lot of governmental officials are signed up to attend, I
think it is important for our community to be represented as well. If your
schedule permits, please register to attend the public hearing on January
23. Even if you don't choose to speak, your presence will be important.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Curtis Chong

FROM:            Curtis Chong
National Federation of the Blind of Colorado
Email: chong.curtis at gmail.com

TO:                  OIT Rulemaking
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
oit_rules at state.co.us

RE:                  Comments for Draft Technology Accessibility Rules - 8
CCR 1501-11

Greetings and salutations:

Thank you for the opportunity to review the second (and publicly-released)
draft of the technology accessibility rules from the Governor's Office of
Information Technology. The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado
would like to comment on two issues with this draft.

Excessive Time Permitted for WCAG Compliance

We call your attention to 11.5(A)(2):

"For future updates to W3C WCAG guidelines, all ICT [Information and
Communication Technology] must meet conformance levels A and AA of the most
current non-draft version of the guidelines within two (2) years of the date
of release."

Regarding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), numerous drafts
and re-drafts are widely distributed years before they become final. Thus,
organizations have years (certainly more than one year) to prepare
themselves to comply with these guidelines-well before they become final. It
is our belief that the two year grace period should be reduced to one year.
Even one year is too long to achieve compliance with the most current and
published guidelines.

Unnecessary Examples Of Undue Burden Caused By Conformance

11.11(F.) provides some illustrative examples where, for ICT or portions of
ICT, full conformance with the technical standards might create an undue
burden for public entities. These could include (but are not limited to) the
following:

1.         Archived ICT that is maintained for reference, research, or
recordkeeping and is not altered or updated after the date of archiving, and
is generally organized or stored in a dedicated area identified as archives

2.         Pre-existing conventional internal or external electronic
documents, presentations, spreadsheets, emails, and pre-existing time-based
media such as audio, video, or audio and video unless such documents or
time-based media are currently used by members of the public to apply for,
gain access to, or participate in a public entity's services, programs, or
activities 

3.         Content contributed by a third party not under the control of the
public entity, that is available on the public entity's website or
applications

4.         Third-party content, over which the public entity has no control
or responsibility, linked from a public entity's website or applications

5.         Course content available on a public entity's password-protected
or otherwise secured website for admitted students enrolled in a specific
course offered by a public postsecondary institution

6.         Class or course content available on a public entity's
password-protected or otherwise secured website for students enrolled, or
parents of students enrolled, in a specific class or course at a public
elementary or secondary school

7.         Individualized, password-protected, conventional electronic
documents that are: About a specific individual, their property, or their
account; and Password-protected or otherwise secured

8.         Complex and/or atypical images and diagrams to the extent that
they cannot be made fully accessible, which could include items such as:
blueprints, architectural drawings, technical drawings, site plans,
development plans, annexation and plat maps, handwritten documents, medical
imaging and health care test results, and any other image where there is no
logical methodology to create an alternate description that will make the
image understandable to assistive technology

9.         Mapping applications and visualizations to the extent that they
cannot be made fully accessible

10.       Reproductions that cannot be made fully accessible of items in
heritage collections, which are goods that are preserved for an historical,
artistic, archaeological, aesthetic, scientific, or technical interest

11.       Only one vendor solution (sole source) is available

12.       ICT for which a contract is currently in place that cannot be
modified or terminated without undue financial, technical, or administrative
burden

It seems to us that this exhaustive list of exclusions is tantamount to
exceptions-something about which we expressed concern for the first draft of
these rules. This illustrative list does not need to be incorporated into
the rule itself. It cries to be used and provides an inappropriate incentive
for entities not to do their absolute best to make some or all of their ICT
accessible.

Again, thank you for the chance to comment on these rules.

Kind regards,

Curtis Chong

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