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This July marks the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of public life. This law has had such a profound impact that July is now celebrated as Disability Pride Month.
When you hear the ADA mentioned, you probably think of wheelchair ramps, accessible parking spots, and closed captions on TV, right? But now, we also have to think about the digital space such as websites, social media, Zoom meetings, and more.
Most of what we do these days takes place online, such as telehealth appointments, paying bills, applying for a job, ordering groceries, and communicating with friends and family.
As our lives have shifted more from the physical world to the digital one, it has become more important that digital accessibility keeps up. If a person with a disability can’t access something online, she won’t have the same opportunities as everyone else.
This important issue is on the radar of the Department of Justice, which issued guidance last year on web accessibility and the ADA.
If your organization has a website or an app, conduct an accessibility audit on a regular basis and be sure to implement digital accessibility practices. Also, make your social media posts accessible by adding alternative text to images, limiting the use of emojis, and using #PascalCase for hashtags (instead of #pascalcase).
For Disability Pride Month, celebrate by taking time to make the digital world more accessible for people with disabilities.
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