US laws and international laws on

IT Accessibility

Chapters 5 and 6

Introduction Laws and lawsuits bring attention and

enforcement to IT accessibility Anti-discrimination laws addressing disability

Not just attitudinal, but there are physical barriers

Providing an accommodation or removing a barrier

What is an accommodation? Chairs? Windows? What are the costs of the accommodations?

Reasonable accommodation? Fundamental alteration? Undue burden?

U.S. Disability Rights Laws Often focus on the purchaser of technology, not the

manufacturer of technology (developers and vendors generally have no direct liability for creating inaccessible products, only Title I accommodations as an employer)

From a US point of view, the legal requirements for accessibility fall on purchasers or licensors of technology

Technology changes more than physical settings (accessible bathrooms today won’t become inaccessible tomorrow)

Therefore, performance-based standards offer some benefits—”substantially equivalent ease of use” Point of sale machines (Lucky Brand Jeans)

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Prohibits the federal government, and

recipients of federal funding, from denying participation in and the benefits of, or discriminating against people in any program or activity, solely on the basis of disability

A major law to prohibit discrimination, even if it doesn’t directly discuss technology

Title II of the ADA has similar reach over state government, even when no federal funding is present

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Addresses technology in the federal

government (when agencies are “developing, procuring, maintaining, and using electronic and information technology”

Covers both public-facing technology and technology for federal employees

Clear requirements, but enforcement has often been lacking

Data collection was lacking from 2003-2010 The 508 Refresh (since 2006…almost done!)

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title I-EmploymentEntities with more than 15 employees

or those receiving federal fundingMust make reasonable

accommodations, and not discriminateNot allowed to use selection criteria

that discriminate against PWDVery little case law on this topic

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title II-State and Local GovernmentRulemaking process for web sites is

now underwayNote: many states have state-level 508

laws that accomplish the same thingMaryland’s IT Non Visual Access law

has a strange exception

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title III-Public Accommodations 12 categories of public

accommodationsWhen the ADA was signed into law the

Internet did not yet existDeval Patrick, Civil Rights Division AAG

at US Justice Department, wrote in 1996, that covered entities under the ADA are required to make their web sites accessible

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title III-Public Accommodations NFB vs. Target (2006-2008)

Preliminary ruling: ADA applied to web siteNexus to a physical locationCalifornia’s Unruh Act and Disabled Persons

Act also applies, without regard to physical location

NAD v. Netflix NFB vs. Scribd

Courts said in both cases that no physical location was required for ADA protections

Other US laws Chafee Amendment to the Copyright Act,

1996, U.S. Copyright Act was amended so that it would not be copyright infringement for a nonprofit organization or government to make and distribute reading materials accessibility for people with print-related disabilities

Communications and Video Accessibility Act (2010)

State laws on IT accessibility Air Carrier Access Act

International Disability Rights Law Different approaches taken compared to the US

Civil rights approach (tiers of protection)Human rights approach

Judicial decisions play a larger role in US, England, Canada, Australia, than in civil code countries (e.g. France)

Private lawsuits allowed in some (UK, Spain) Government can enforce (Norway) Province-level laws (Canada) Transparency (Sweden)? Prescriptiveness

(Germany)?

EU Mandate 376

European Union Mandate 376 (http://www.mandate376.eu/) requires procurement and development of accessible technologies by EU governments

Prior to EU Mandate 376, many European countries, such as the UK, Italy, and Germany, and other countries around the world, including Australia and Canada, also had information technology accessibility requirements.

Harmonized with US Section 508

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The CRPD, an international human rights treaty, also addresses accessible technology

Article 9 of the CRPD calls upon countries to “Promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet”

Article 21 encourages countries to “[provide] information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities”