Access Board News

Each year, the U.S. Access Board visits a city outside of Washington, D.C. to learn about the state of accessibility around the country. During the week of April 15th, the Access Board traveled to Los Angeles for its 2024 out-of-town Board meeting with two main goals. First, the Board sought to hear from residents, advocates, and local government leaders . . .

The U.S. Access Board seeks a Financial Program Manager to serve in its Office of Administration. This Financial Program Manager will develop, coordinate, and maintain an integrated system of financial services to include accounting, budgeting, management-financial reporting, auditing, financial management and analysis, procurement . . .

Amy Nieves has been appointed Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Access Board in the Office of Executive Director (OED). In this role, Nieves will design, plan, and direct the Board’s public affairs program that includes managing its external communication channels, developing informational materials, handling media relations, leading outreach . . .

Passengers who use wheelchairs often face accessibility barriers during air travel. In fact, more than 10,000 wheelchairs and other mobility devices are mishandled or damaged every year during air travel. In response to this, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would dramatically expand the rights and protections . . .

The U.S. Access Board will hold a public town hall meeting on Tuesday, April 16 from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. (PT) at the California Endowment’s Center for Healthy Communities in Los Angeles, California. Presidentially appointed Access Board members and representatives from other federal member agencies will be present to . . .

The U.S. Access Board’s YouTube channel is a helpful resource for watching Board meetings, shorts, training videos, and animations on accessibility guidelines and standards. The Board recently published three new videos on its YouTube channel to help explain the work of the agency and the resources that it offers . . .

All are welcome to attend the next meeting of the U.S. Access Board, which will be open to the public and take place virtually on January 24 from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. (ET). The agenda for the meeting includes brief reports from standing and ad hoc Board committees and the Executive Director, federal agency updates, and a guest presentation by Andrew Nielson, Director of . . .

The General Services Administration (GSA) recently issued a landmark report to Congress, which highlights the need for substantial improvements to federal Section 508 compliance. This report, the FY23 Government-wide Section 508 Assessment, evaluates reporting entities’ adherence to the criteria established by . . .

Despite tens of millions of Americans living with a disability, nearly half of the most popular federal government websites are not fully accessible. In response, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently published guidance to help strengthen digital accessibility and the management of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Together with the OMB memo . . .

The Access Board congratulates the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) with publishing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 as a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation. WCAG 2.2 adds nine new Success Criteria to WCAG 2.1 (which added 17 Success Criteria to WCAG 2.0) and includes links to supporting documents that explain how to make web content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities . . .