Emojis have been a part of our vocabulary for some time now, but new emojis have been announced that will be more inclusive of people with disabilities, significantly expanding expression in conversation. The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization that develops, maintains, and promotes software that standardizes digital text internationally on all software platforms, will add 13 emojis representing people with disabilities.

An Investment in Your Company and Your Customers

There is still a myth out there that creating digital experiences to be accessible or remediating for digital accessibility is a cost with little or no benefit. Usually fueling this belief are the questions of how many people accessibility actually helps and whether it is really necessary. Here are just a few of the reasons to flip the script and think of digital accessibility as an investment, not a cost.

Businesses that have a Letter of Reasonable Accessibility will be better-protected from accessibility lawsuits, according to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA). BoIA clients who have opted into ongoing support will receive a Letter of Reasonable Accessibility that helps prove their accessibility compliance. Clients’ attorneys can quickly refer to and share the letter to help defend against web accessibility lawsuits.

The ADA applies to websites

Domino's website and app must be accessible, appeals court says

Ninth Circuit Court Appeals has reversed the lower court's dismissal of a web accessibility case against the pizza company. The court determined the ADA applies to websites and that just because the ADA doesn't specify WCAG-compliance, accessibility is still the law.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released a new recommendation, "Accessible Name and Description Computation," that aims to help people using assistive technologies browse the web. So what does this new W3C recommendation mean for web accessibility — and what is a W3C recommendation, anyway?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a full 25 percent of U.S. adults are living with a disability, which can create large and small complications and difficulties for the people who have them. In some instances, technological developments have made the daily lives of people with disabilities easier than ever before. Here are five ways that people with disabilities can use digital technologies in the world around them.

The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) announced today that it has launched the industry’s first live accessibility support phone line that will aid a website’s visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new support system enhances the company’s robust accessibility monitoring and support program to assist organizations with digital accessibility legal requirements.

How do you know if your website is ADA compliant? As web accessibility lawsuits continue to rise, many organizations are seeking to answer this question sooner than later. As places of public accommodation, websites need to be accessible to people with disabilities — in the same way that physical locations need to be accessible to be in compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Beyonce's company, Parkwood Entertainment, is being sued over allegations that the singer's official website (Beyonce.com) is not accessible to blind or visually-impaired people and is thus in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Here's what the lawsuit states and what we can learn from it.

Digital marketing practices drive business growth, but to reach all audiences and keep businesses compliant they need to be accessible. Here are three key marketing trends that will continue to boom in 2019 that need to carefully consider how they can help, or hinder, the experiences of people with disabilities.

2018 is in our rear-view mirror, which means that now is the perfect opportunity to look back on some of the most important events in web accessibility from the past year. From WCAG 2.1 to ADA lawsuits, it's been an eventful one.

A development in accessibility legislation, the 21^st Century Integrated Digital Experiences Act, was presented to President Trump on December 13 and signed into law on December 20, 2018, and should change web accessibility for users and content creators of government websites. The 21^st Century IDEA Act was passed by the Senate earlier this month without amendment by unanimous consent. Legislation like this bill hopefully will take a more astringent approach to enforcing minimum standards for accessibility, ease of use, and security.

Instagram is now using AI to automatically add alt text to images. As an image and video-focused platform, this is a big accessibility win, as screen readers or other assistive technologies need a text alternative available to know what an image is portraying. Users can also add custom alt text for more accurate descriptions.

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced big changes to its Case Processing Manual (CPM), removing the OCR's ability to dismiss complaints it deems an "unreasonable burden" and reinstating the opportunity to appeal.

Earlier this week, the New York State Transportation Network Company Accessibility Task Force announced it will be holding public listening sessions in November and December. The purpose of these sessions is to study the accessibility of the state's ride sharing services for people with disabilities.

Many people know that we test in accordance with the most well-established digital accessibility standards, which is critical as these provide the rules to help determine the accessibility of a website or app. But how do we test? Here's a peek into our four-point hybrid testing!

The holiday shopping season is upon us again. E-commerce sites, just like physical stores, need to be accessible for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, online shopping sometimes poses unique challenges. Expand your audience and help ensure ADA compliance by making your e-commerce site accessible.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with disabilities from discriminatory hiring practices from pre-employment through their last day on the job. See how web accessibility applies to the hiring process.

19 Attorneys General have petitioned United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions to formalize web accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In technology, something that is robust comes with a wide range of capabilities or is able to deal with many different situations. Robustness, as defined by WCAG, refers specifically to web content that is compatible with a variety of “user agents”: browsers, assistive technologies, and other means of accessing web content.

Content that is understandable can be read and comprehended by users without undue effort. This means that the content should be understandable both by the users themselves and by assistive technologies such as screen readers.

The ongoing delay in the release of federal accessibility guidelines has contributed to the giant increase in website accessibility lawsuits in 2018. With the lack of a federal directive by the DOJ, law firms are actively pursuing suits, resulting in a large spike in the number of web accessibility cases being filed.

June 5th, 2018 saw the first evolution of the WCAG standards in a decade with the release of WCAG 2.1. These new recommendations include updates to address mobile devices, as well as to better serve people with low vision and cognitive difficulties.

BoIA release a new tool, the Color Contrast Accessibility Validator. The tool is free and is intended for use by website owners and developers to test their web pages for color contrast issues that can impede usability for people with visual disabilities.

Despite massive growth in e-commerce, there’s at least one brick-and-mortar industry that’s standing strong: grocery retailers. Even though people are still buying groceries in person, customers use supermarket websites for a variety of purposes. Web accessibility is an important part of the marketing strategy of any supermarket.