CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a proposed rule to improve online access for millions of people with disabilities.
The Department of Justice would set accessibility standards for local and state websites and apps, which they say would enable state and local governments to meet their ADA obligations and provide equal access to services and programs for people with vision, hearing, cognitive and manual dexterity disabilities.
Rosebud Turner lost her sight 17 years ago due to diabetes complications. She’s mostly independent except for driving and using some technology.
Turner said the proposed change to increase online accessibility is needed. Currently, she doesn’t visit websites often because she finds them confusing.
“If the website is not set up with unsighted people in mind then … sighted people will see one thing, I’m hearing something else… It doesn’t always match what I’m hearing, it’s not always where the link is,” Turner said.
If Turner needs to visit a website, her assistant, who is sighted, usually helps her access it.
The proposed rule would include text description of images for people with screen readers to understand content, provide video captions and enable navigation through a keyboard instead of a mouse.
Turner, who is a retired educator and an author of published books, said she wishes she could have descriptions of pictures online.
“Who wants to really feel left out and missing out?” Turner said.
She currently uses an app that describes photos she receives from family and friends.
“When you can’t see at all, it’s so great when it gives you color or when it tries to describe the mood of a person,” Turner said.
She’s confident that if the proposed change goes through, the administration would request input from people who are blind and organizations supporting blind people.
“If you don’t field test with real blind people, it’s not going to do any good,” Turner said.
She said the change could help increase her independence and access websites on her own.