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What Will a Trump Presidency Mean for Digital Accessibility?

In the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, many are wondering how the new administration will affect the digital accessibility space.

The federal government plays a key role in driving digital accessibility policy and enforcement.  The incoming Trump administration anti-regulation stance has caused concern in the accessibility community.  What changes could be coming to digital accessibility?  Is the political and legal environment about to turn hostile?  Here are four different articles to offer perspective.

SSB Bart Group – What Will a Trump Presidency Mean for Digital Accessibility?

SSB Bart Group feels that in the short term the status quo will reign.  However, long-term consequences are less predictable.

In the short term, we see it as unlikely that a Trump presidency will have a major impact on the status quo.

Donald Trump has never specifically addressed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so it is difficult to predict what his stance would be. In the past, scaling back rights for people with disabilities has proven to be politically unpopular. Given that neither advancing nor curtailing the ADA is among Trump’s priorities, it is unlikely that the Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement of digital accessibility will change in the short term. Looking further down the road, it is possible that that the DOJ may shift its priorities away from the ADA, including a possible reduction in public sector enforcement for state and local governments under ADA Title II. However, all of this is speculative.

How Will A Trump Administration Change The ADA Title III Landscape?

In  Seyfarth Shaw’s ADA Title III Blog. Kristin Launey, a Seyfarth partner, put together a strong analysis on the possible effects a Trump presidency may have on the ADA.  Key points are:

  • The new administration will have a more sympathetic ear to efforts to curb ADA lawsuits.  However, this effort is likely not going to be a top priority.
  • The incoming Attorney General for Civil rights will have significant influences on DOJ policy and proposed rules going forward.  DOJ is currently working on proposed rules for websites, movie captioning and audio description.  All of these could be affected.
  • The Trump Administration may be less inclined than the current administration to pursue enforcement actions until final DOJ website and mobile app standards are in place slowing down progress.

Original Article:  How Will A Trump Administration Change The ADA Title III Landscape?

Digital Accessibility in the New Political Reality

Disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold wrote an article before the election where she stated her concern about:

Fear of how a Trump presidency could turn back the clock on disability civil rights. Fear about the impending threat to two decades of forward movement to include disabled people in everything the digital world has to offer.

and now..

Now I feel a new responsibility: to remind us all that digital accessibility is here to stay. That despite obstacles the new administration will throw in the path of progress, disabled people will continue to insist on their civil rights. And the law, possibly battered and bruised, or temporarily in retreat, will be there to help.

There are multiple forces pushing for Digital Accessibility and Lainey Feingold outlines them well in her article:

  • State law protects digital accessibility and will remain in place
  • Multiple State Attorney Generals are accessibility champions and will continue to push forward
  • ADA, Section 504, Section 508, CVAA are still the law
  • Federal Court judges, in place before the Trump administration, will continue to enforce the law
  • The Disability Rights Community  will continue to press for accessibility
  • The inherent value of accessibility in satisfying customers is important to many companies.

Original Article:  Digital Accessibility in the New Political Reality

Why Blind Americans are Worried about Trump’s Tech Policy

The New Yorker article focuses on the FCC delaying discussion of policy until after the inauguration of President Trump.   While multiple items were shelved in the last FCC meeting one that affected digital accessibility was discussion of an item titled Video Description: Implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.

“To see that all our progress could be stopped so fast by this election—it’s really spooked people,” Mark Richert, the director of public policy at the American Foundation for the Blind, told me. Fazlullah agreed. “I think for most of the advocacy field, it’s a little bit baffling to see this particular item get pulled off,” she said.

It took Congress another eight years to explicitly vest the agency with that authority. “So, on Thursday, after all these years of down-in-the-weeds, incredibly aggravating history, you had this proposal that has been negotiated for months, that is literally printed and ready to be voted on,” Richert said. “To have it be pulled at the last minute is deeply frustrating.” Given Trump’s behavior and rhetoric on the campaign trail, Salsiccia told me—in particular, his mocking impression of a disabled journalist—“a strong fear of regression on accessibility issues is setting in.”

Original Article:  Why Blind Americans are Worried about Trump’s Tech Policy