[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 150 (Wednesday, September 25, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6423-S6425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACCESSIBLE FEDERAL TECHNOLOGY
Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I rise today to recognize the 51st
anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the importance of
the law to equal access for people with disabilities, including equal
access to Federal technology.
When it was signed into law on September 26, 1973, the Rehabilitation
Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability by the Federal
Government, in federally funded programs, and by Federal contractors.
Passage of the Rehabilitation Act committed the Federal Government to
ensuring that every person, including people with disabilities, have
access to government programs and services. As with any legislation,
enforcement is key. In the years following passage, people with
disabilities needed to advocate that the Federal Government issue
regulations and implement the law in order to ensure Federal services
and products are accessible. Four years after passage, no regulations
had been issued. At the beginning of April 1977, disability advocates
started a month-long national protest, pressuring President Carter and
his Cabinet. The protests lasted 26 days and resulted in implementation
of the first Rehabilitation Act regulations. The Rehabilitation Act and
the resulting regulations laid the groundwork for the passage of the
Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
The Rehabilitation Act helped make the Federal Government more
accessible for people with disabilities, but with time, new
accessibility barriers emerged. Those accessibility barriers were
related to America's information revolution, which has changed society
at a rapid pace. In response to the emerging digital revolution,
Senator Orrin Hatch led efforts in 1986 to establish guidelines on
electronic accessibility, resulting in a new section of the
Rehabilitation Act: section 508. In 1998, Senator Chris Dodd and
Representative Anna Eshoo led efforts to further strengthen section
508's accessibility requirements for digital information, services, and
tools offered by Federal Agencies. The Rehabilitation Act amendments in
1998 were the last significant congressional changes to Section 508.
Section 508 requires technology at Federal Departments and Agencies
to be accessible for, and usable by, people with disabilities,
including Federal employees who have disabilities. Section 508 requires
the United States Access Board to develop the specific standards that
Department and Agency technology must meet to be accessible for people
with disabilities. Technology covered by section 508 includes websites,
apps, and electronic documents, as well as physical technology such as
kiosks, computers, and telecommunications equipment. Examples of
accessible technology include websites, apps, or PDFs that can work
with a screen reader or other assistive technology. They include video
communications systems that are capable of incorporating sign language.
They include kiosks that are properly positioned for a wheelchair user
and provide an option for speech output.
Accessible Federal technology is important to ensure all Americans
can benefit from government resources, and demographic changes mean
more Americans will be disadvantaged if Federal technology is not
accessible. Our Nation is rapidly aging, and older adults are more
likely to have a disability. That means a larger population will be
relying on accessible Federal technology for access to Federal
employment, information, and services in the coming decades. Accessible
Federal technology also benefits people without disabilities. For
example, an accessible Federal website also benefits someone browsing
on a small screen, someone browsing with a broken arm, or someone in a
noisy environment who cannot hear an online video.
Despite the importance of accessible technology, the Federal
Government has a poor record of meeting its obligations under section
508. In 2018, I was approached by blinded veterans who informed me that
they could not access Department of Veterans Affairs' websites using
their screen readers. In
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response, I introduced bipartisan legislation, the Department of
Veterans Affairs Website Accessibility Act. When it was signed into law
in 2020, the VA Website Accessibility Act required the VA to report on
the accessibility of the VA's websites and intake kiosks. The resulting
report, released in 2021, had stark findings--fewer than 10 percent of
the VA's websites were fully accessible for people with disabilities.
The report also included a wholly inadequate plan for bringing the VA's
websites into section 508 compliance.
The VA's web accessibility report was a wakeup call; the Federal
Government must do better. To start, I used my position as chairman of
the Senate Special Committee on Aging to push the VA to improve. I am
pleased that my efforts had bipartisan support from the ranking member
of the Aging Committee and from the bipartisan leadership of the House
and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs. In response to a letter
signed by the bipartisan leadership of three committees and two
subcommittees, the VA released a revised website accessibility report,
with an updated plan for making VA websites accessible. I also
requested that the VA conduct regular section 508 compliance updates
for bipartisan House and Senate staff, which the VA has done since
March 2022. The VA's recurring progress reports for congressional staff
help ensure that the VA's efforts to improve stay on track.
Unfortunately, the shortfalls at the VA are not unique. In recent
years, a long list of agencies has settled lawsuits alleging that their
websites and technology are not accessible. Further, since 1998, the
Federal Government's reporting and oversight for section 508 has ranged
from lackluster to nonexistent. The Department of Justice is required
by law to report every 2 years on the Federal Government's section 508
compliance but, prior to my oversight, had not done so since 2012. The
General Services Administration routinely collected data on Federal
website accessibility but did not make that information available to
the public or Congress. The Office of Management and Budget maintained
a strategic plan for Federal section 508 compliance, but that strategic
plan had not been updated since 2013, despite Federal accessibility
shortfalls and rapid technological change.
Since 2022, I have authored multiple letters to Federal departments
and Agencies urging them to improve section 508 compliance, oversight,
and transparency. Many letters were bipartisan, demonstrating the
continued, broad interest in accessible Federal technology. I also led
two Aging Committee hearings on accessible government technology that
included people with disabilities as witnesses. Their testimony helped
the committee understand the real-world impact when Federal technology
does not allow for equal access. In December 2022, I released Unlocking
the Virtual Front Door, an Aging Committee majority staff report that
lays out many of the Federal accessibility failures that I have
outlined today. Unlocking the Virtual Front Door includes a set of
recommendations for the Federal Government and for Congress for making
Federal technology accessible.
I am pleased that improvements have been made in response to my
oversight of section 508 compliance. The VA reorganized its technology
access office, expanded its outreach to people with disabilities, and
bolstered its efforts to make its technology accessible. The VA also
reevaluated over 300 exceptions that it had granted to allow the use of
inaccessible technology and revoked all but 18. The Department of
Justice, meanwhile, released its first report on the Federal
Government's section 508 compliance since 2012, and the General
Services Administration committed to new section 508 oversight and
transparency efforts. The Office of Management and Budget has released
updated guidance for Departments and Agencies on meeting section 508
standards, replacing its outdated 2013 strategic plan. Department and
Agency inspectors general have also taken an interest in accessible
technology, which resulted in a January 2024 inspector general report
on technology at the VA.
While there has been progress toward making the Federal Government's
technology accessible for people with disabilities, significant
shortfalls remain. The Justice Department's latest section 508 report,
released in January 2023, found that 1 in 10 public-facing websites at
major Departments and Agencies are not fully accessible for people with
disabilities. A December 2023 General Services Administration
assessment likewise noted that the Federal Government's section 508
compliance is ``well below expectations.'' There are also continued,
troubling reports of specific electronic accessibility failures within
the Federal Government. For example, there are allegations that the new
electronic health record system at the VA is not accessible for people
with disabilities. The VA has come a long way since I began my
oversight of section 508. The VA must continue to show that it is
serious about section 508 by prioritizing accessibility for all new
information and communications technology, including its EHR system.
The reports and data that have been released in response to my
oversight of section 508 highlight a need to do more. One
recommendation in Unlocking the Virtual Front Door was for Congress to
significantly update section 508 for the first time since 1998. That is
why I have introduced S. 4766, the Section 508 Refresh Act of 2024. My
legislation would make changes to ensure that newly purchased or
developed Federal technology is accessible before it is deployed. It
would also reform the Federal Government's section 508 complaint
process by giving the experts with the Access Board a prominent role.
The Section 508 Refresh Act would require regular testing to ensure
that Federal technology already in use remains fully accessible over
time, and it would require Departments and Agencies to appoint
qualified, dedicated section 508 officers. Critically, my legislation
would also require the involvement of people with disabilities in the
acquisition and accessibility testing of Federal technology. People
with disabilities who work for the Federal Government or use Federal
resources are the ones who are harmed when Federal technology is not
accessible. It is essential for them to have a seat at the table when
Federal technology is being acquired, designed, implemented, and
tested.
The need to reform section 508 is real. My own constituents have
testified to the Aging Committee about the impact when Federal
technology does not allow equal access for all Americans. Ms. Jule Ann
Lieberman of Devon, PA, is an expert on assistive technology. Yet,
during the COVID-19 pandemic, she could not access local prevalence
data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website because
it was inaccessible for her screen reader. Although Ms. Lieberman was
able to ask a family member for help, she explained to the committee
that ``repeated requests for help become burdensome for those who
support me, potentially leaving me with either no access or not timely
information.'' Sadly, Ms. Lieberman ran into yet another accessibility
barrier later in the pandemic, when she could not use her screen reader
to access COVID-19 vaccination resources on the CDC website.
Mr. Ron Biglin is a blind Air Force veteran from Clarks Summit, PA.
Mr. Biglin can fish, kayak, and do online banking. However, Mr. Biglin
could not use the internet to access his VA health benefits. When Mr.
Biglin tried to do so, the VA's online portal, My HealtheVet, would not
work with his screen reader. Mr. Biglin told the Aging Committee that,
``when you are visually impaired you want to be as independent as
possible and having problems getting on VA websites takes away this
independency.'' In response to my oversight, the VA worked to resolve
the issues that Mr. Biglin was having with My HealtheVet. However, to
safeguard equal access, we must ensure that all Federal Departments and
Agencies build accessibility into their technology from the start.
I remain committed to ensuring that Federal technology is accessible
for people with disabilities and that all Americans have equal access
to Federal jobs, information, and benefits. I look forward to working
with my colleagues in Congress on continued section 508 oversight and
to advance the Section 508 Refresh Act.
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