A new report from the General Services Administration (GSA) reveals that the Federal government is failing to meet its own accessibility requirements – in fact, accessibility remains largely “deprioritized” across the government with little to no progress in conformance over time, according to the document.
The report looked at governmentwide compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires government information and communications technology (ICT) to be accessible for individuals with disabilities.
GSA released its 2024 report last month, which reveals that a third or less of the reporting agencies top-viewed ICT is fully conformant. Common tools, like surveys, learning systems, and video players also showed limited accessibility compliance, hindering access for up to 13 percent of Americans who are disabled, according to the Census Bureau.
Approximately only half of agencies reporting to GSA lacked resources to test their most-viewed ICT content, and 70 percent of respondents said that they test public-facing pages compared to 41 percent who said they test their internal ICT content as a standard practice.
While many reporting agencies saw little to no improvement in conformance – with overall rates of conformance dropping from 1.79 to 1.74 year-over-year – other areas saw improvement. GSA reported “maturity” improvements from 14 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2023 to 27 percent in FY2024 – which signals increased investment in digital accessibility.
More agencies also have full-time Section 508 program managers compared to previous years, the report finds.
“Entities are making improvements including Section 508 compliance in leadership and management performance plans and integrating skills and competencies into relevant roles and responsibilities, which resulted in an improvement of about 18% in this dimension across the government,” the report says, also noting that “while improvements were reported, digital accessibility remains largely deprioritized across government.”
Early integration of Section 508 standards remains a challenge, GSA says, with 41 percent of respondents admitting they rarely or never factor accessibility into ICT lifecycle activities – or are uncertain about their practices. However, many agencies are also seeing improvements in testing.
“The majority of reporting entities reported using a combination of automated and manual tools to test comprehensively,” reads the report. “Entities are increasingly conducting testing on web content and integrating Section 508 reviews into electronic content prior to publication.”
The report also notes that around half of agencies still take contract deliverables without confirming that they’re accessible, with many agencies not consistently including Section 508 in contract solicitations.
The report recommends that Congress update Section 508 to clarify the law’s applicability, modernize its language, enhance its enforcement, prioritize ICT accessibility in procurement, increase Section 508 program funding, integrate accessibility in ICT development, and expand testing and remediation.
“Systemic challenges persist in staffing, testing, and procurement,” concludes the report. “As agencies continue to develop their programs, training, leadership engagement, and vendor accountability will be essential to achieving sustainable improvements in digital accessibility.”
