New ADA Rules Coming Soon for Online Accessibility

In April, updates for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) from the Department of Justice were published. The new rules found in the 289-page document focus primarily on accessibility for websites and mobile apps. Specifically, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Version 2.1, Level AA, provides a technical standard for both web content and mobile apps that state and local governments are required to meet. 

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And the clock is ticking: Governments serving 50,000 or more persons must comply by April 24, 2026, while smaller governments (including special districts) have until April 24, 2027. The compliance date for a school district, public library, or other part of government is based on the population of the state or local government in question. 

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Web Video Captions Will Be Required

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It should be mentioned that the WCAG was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), not the U.S. government. W3C is an international nonprofit that brings its staff together with more than 350 member organizations and close to 15,000 developers to develop standards for the web. The organization emphasizes accessibility among its design principles in an effort to achieve its goal of a “web for everyone.”

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OK, so what does this mean for your government access channel content? 

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Well, part of WCAG 2.1, Level AA requires captions be provided for “all live audio content in synchronized media.” Plus, audio descriptions – which provide information about visual content – are required for all prerecorded video. If your programming is streamed on your local government’s website or can be viewed through a government app, captioning and audio descriptions will soon be a requirement, not a luxury. From PSAs to school board meetings, accessibility will be a priority.

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Of course, there are always exceptions that could apply to other content your organization produces. For example, if a third party posts content on a government website, that content would likely not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, provided that third party was not contracted by the government to post it. So, if a citizen posts a message on an online message board, no problem. But the message platform itself, put in place by the government, needs to conform to the new rules. The exception also does not apply to things like community calendars, maps, reservation systems, and other content produced by community media centers or other outside agencies and posted on the government site. 

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Thankfully, the DOJ is not requiring state and local governments to go back and make preexisting social media posts and certain preexisting documents and archived web content accessible today. After all, there’s no real need to retroactively make a social post about a blizzard from 2018 accessible. There are some specific criteria that governments will need to meet to make sure archived content is not subject to the new rules.

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Cablecast Internet Channels are WCAG Compliant

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For governments that have to meet the new WCAG 2.1, Level AA standard, it’s good to know Cablecast Internet Channels have video accessibility features that already conform to WCAG 2.1 rules – and have been in compliance since the W3C published them last October. PEG stations want their programming to be enjoyed across the community, and Cablecast Internet Channels help them serve residents with disabilities.

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Cablecast is also going above and beyond by addressing accessibility with its new Multiple Audio Programs (MAP) feature for its Cablecast VIO video servers. Not only does MAP provide Secondary Audio Program (SAP) support, which is important for communities with high numbers of non-English speaking residents, but it also enables audio description for viewers with visual impairments. 

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Plus, Cablecast Closed Captioning offers automated, cloud-based captioning with flexible plans and pricing. Available for live events and file-based transcription, the service allows you to create custom vocabularies, so local names and locations are spelled correctly, and an integrated caption editor allows for easy fixes when necessary. Cablecast Closed Captioning also supports seven languages for live translations and dozens more for VOD content.

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Let Cablecast help your PEG station and local government comply with the latest ADA rules. Schedule a WCAG consult today.