[NFBF-L] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] The Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act S. 4998/ H.R. 9021

Tue Oct 11 22:56:34 UTC 2022

Thanks, Sherrri this will be a big help to get us all started and pointed
in the right direction.
Thank you again,  Fran

On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 6:51 PM Sherri Brun via NFBF-L <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Let’s go out and get those sponsors.  This is very important.  At the NFBF
> convention, John Paré said he talked with a leading rehabilitation advocate
> who said this could be as important to the entire disability community as
> was the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Let’s get busy.
>
>
>
> Sherri
>
>
>
> *From:* NFBNet-Members-List <nfbnet-members-list-bounces at nfbnet.org> *On
> Behalf Of *Kaloc, Jeff via NFBNet-Members-List
> *Sent:* Sunday, October 9, 2022 11:45 AM
> *To:* nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
> *Subject:* [Nfbnet-members-list] The Websites and Software Applications
> Accessibility Act S. 4998/ H.R. 9021
>
>
>
> Good morning fellow Federationist:
>
>
>
> Thank you for your patients and hard work. The Websites and Software
> Applications Accessibility Act has been introduced in both the House and
> the Senate. The House bill number is H.R. 9021 and Senate bill number is S.
> 4998. It will take Congress.gov sometime to input the bill text on their
> website so I attached the bill text to this email. While the National
> Federation of the Blind organized and began the efforts to introduce this
> bill, other organizations were key to its introduction. Those organizations
> are the American Council of the Blind, the American Foundation for the
> Blind, and the National Disability Rights Network.
>
>
>
> The following links will lead you to multiple press releases. First the joint
> press release
> <https://nfb.org/about-us/press-room/senator-duckworth-and-representative-sarbanes-introduce-bill-make-websites-and-software-accessible>
> from the National Federations of the Blind, the American Council of the
> Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, and the National Disability
> Rights Network. Next a press release from Senator Duckworth
> <https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-sarbanes-introduce-bicameral-legislation-to-help-make-websites-and-software-applications-accessible-for-americans-with-disabilities>,
> the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Lastly, a press release from Representative
> Sarbanes
> <https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sarbanes-duckworth-introduce-bicameral-legislation-help-make-websites>,
> the sponsor of the bill in the House. In addition, the Washington Post has
> written an article outlining the importance of the bill below:
> Noted: Sen. Duckworth introduces bill to improve internet access for
> people with disabilities
>
> *Return to menu*
> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FwlkbCv29OnF74o6yUQf53H%3Fdomain%3Dwashingtonpost.com&data=05%7C01%7Cjkaloc%40nfb.org%7C8993da676db34930c3d408daa2ebaf7c%7C538f3d4b739545cf93fa8dfc2b4a7f62%7C1%7C0%7C638001430442993727%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jZM4Bp%2BCdxGCmUmzeqgVqPVmnmDh5rC1A7E3cI5KI5k%3D&reserved=0>
>
> By Amanda Morris
> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FZYLOCwpRPosGPX1RSqvxbs%3Fdomain%3Dwashingtonpost.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cjkaloc%40nfb.org%7C8993da676db34930c3d408daa2ebaf7c%7C538f3d4b739545cf93fa8dfc2b4a7f62%7C1%7C0%7C638001430442993727%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=EwEkgckQQ%2BtykZMKF2s%2Fu%2B7FAieSuO%2FCwDLKdA5B02w%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
> Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) introduced a bill Thursday that aims to
> improve internet access for people with disabilities.
>
> Access has been especially difficult for blind and low-vision people, who
> have had issues using websites and have been pushing for improvements for
> years. Some of the most common issues, according to advocates supporting
> the bill, involve images and other items, such as buttons or headings on a
> website, being unlabeled or mislabeled in a way that blind people cannot
> navigate using screen readers, a device that reads labels and text fields
> out loud.
>
> Despite numerous lawsuits against websites that blind people said were
> inaccessible, legal requirements for businesses and website creators have
> remained murky, the advocates say.
>
> The Department of Justice attempted to clarify the issue earlier this year
> by issuing guidance
> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FoNYICxk7QpI1BKAQUY85hO%3Fdomain%3Dbeta.ada.gov%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cjkaloc%40nfb.org%7C8993da676db34930c3d408daa2ebaf7c%7C538f3d4b739545cf93fa8dfc2b4a7f62%7C1%7C0%7C638001430442993727%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LnSyqdB%2Br%2FtpjyMguiPyDdQUfiz2ZJBCXuY2IwN86TQ%3D&reserved=0> that
> the Americans With Disabilities Act applies to all online goods and
> services offered by public businesses and organizations. But Mark
> Riccobono, the president of the National Federation of the Blind, which is
> a key supporter of Duckworth’s bill, says that without a clear legal
> standard for what websites must do to be considered accessible, court
> rulings on the issue have been inconsistent.
>
> “There’s still a lot of confusion and misinformation about web
> accessibility, the requirements and the standards,” he said. “Blind people,
> in the meantime, are left waiting, and we believe it’s time for Congress to
> speak on this issue.”
>
> Duckworth’s Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act aims to
> clear this confusion by directing the Department of Justice and the Equal
> Employment Opportunity Commission to create and enforce legal accessibility
> standards for websites. If the bill becomes a law, it would also give the
> U.S. Attorney General the ability to impose a civil penalty on websites
> that do not comply with the standards.
>
> Duckworth said the goal of the legislation, though, isn’t to open up a
> “rash of federal lawsuits,” but to help businesses provide services to more
> people and have greater clarity on what standards would be most appropriate.
>
> To help ease the transition, her legislation would also establish a
> technical assistance center and advisory committee to provide advice and
> resources to help website designers and others meet new accessibility
> standards.
>
> Ensuring online accessibility has grown more critical since the pandemic,
> said Clark Rachfal, director of advocacy and governmental affairs for the
> American Council of the Blind, which also supports this legislation. Many
> goods and services moved online, and access to the internet became integral
> to societal participation. Rachfal called the bill a good “starting point”
> for the future.
>
> “It’s critical that rights of people with disabilities are protected as
> technology plays an increasing role in all of our lives,” he said.
>
> Duckworth said the pandemic spurred her to act, because she realized how
> much the online access issues were negatively affecting people with
> cognitive or visual disabilities.
>
> “It was ten times worse for members of the disability community to access
> information and the help that they needed,” she said. “Especially as covid
> went on, they became more and more isolated.”
>
> She also said that she has seen firsthand the difference this access can
> make. When she was recovering in Walter Reed National Military Medical
> Center from injuries she sustained serving in the armed forces, she said
> one of the other soldiers, who had lost his eyesight, struggled with using
> an iPhone touch screen. But now that iPhones have features that allow blind
> people to use them more easily, the soldier uses his iPhone daily,
> Duckworth said.
>
> She hopes her bill can make it easier for other blind people to use the
> internet.
>
> A bill
> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FKsF5CAD9yRINVMW1IMXvhm%3Fdomain%3Dcongress.gov&data=05%7C01%7Cjkaloc%40nfb.org%7C8993da676db34930c3d408daa2ebaf7c%7C538f3d4b739545cf93fa8dfc2b4a7f62%7C1%7C0%7C638001430442993727%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Fl37a%2Fbyedc7cOkwwbc0UFzWXbuyh5CG%2FoeQyHWvBlc%3D&reserved=0>with
> similar goals was introduced in the House last year by Rep. Ted Budd
> (R-N.C.), but failed to gain momentum.
>
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/29/congress-stopgap-funding-biden-pacific/#link-YBTBJXCGLZGRRLUR55AR4XC4WE
> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com%2Fs%2F_qp-Czpx0rsMnv2mUoodDJ%3Fdomain%3Dwashingtonpost.com&data=05%7C01%7Cjkaloc%40nfb.org%7C8993da676db34930c3d408daa2ebaf7c%7C538f3d4b739545cf93fa8dfc2b4a7f62%7C1%7C0%7C638001430442993727%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7U3G09aJwQJ%2FoyRVCEqLL55OBcUXs4BrO9Xqd9OuO28%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
> Jeff Kaloc
>
> Governmental Affairs Specialist
>
> 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
>
> 410-659-9314, extension 2206 | jkaloc at nfb.org
>
>
>
> [image: National Federation of the Blind] <https://nfb.org/>
>
>
>
>                          [image: Facebook]
> <http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>    [image: Twitter]
> <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>    [image: Youtube]
> <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>
>
>
>
> The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
> who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we
> work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
>
>
>
>
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