Website Accessibility Resources

While they are related, they actually build upon each other. It originally started with the ADA, which didn’t technically define website requirements, but

defines equal access to services for people with disabilities. On top of that came the Federal Section 508 requirements, which outlined basic website accessibility. WCAG 2.0 AA was officially adopted as the standard in January 2018, and those standards apply to government websites in most states.

At the top of the pyramid is HB21-1110. HB21-1110 requires all government websites to be fully accessible by July 1, 2024. HB21-1110 goes one step beyond other states' accessibility laws, by adding the ability for citizens of Colorado to bring an accessibility lawsuit to state court, rather than federal court. 

The quickest way to determine if your district's site is accessible is to run a website accessibility scan. Our free tool allows you to scan your website pages and download a full report of issues.

If you score below a 100% and want to review your report together, I would be happy to walk you through it. Click here to chat with us.

The most common issues include: not having accessible PDFs/documents; no closed captions on video/audio files; not having ALT tags for images; lack of labels on form fields; lack of color contrast for text vs. background; not having a mobile-responsive site; non-semantic (bad, home-grown) HTML. These are the things that are really easy for someone to spot by doing an automated scan on your site.

Typically, there is a single champion who investigates options, determines the best way forward, and brings the information to the board. There are testing resources you can use to determine how close your site is to being compliant – check out this free scanner to test your existing site for compliance basics. Or reach out if you'd like us to send you a report!