A lot of people are wondering the question: Are California Agencies Finding it difficult or struggling to Meet ADA Requirements? The short answer is yes, many agencies are struggling and for those who are finding it extremely difficult, they can use the services of www.adacompliancepros.com/california-ada. With that said, let’s go into details about why agencies are finding it difficult to meet ADA requirements.
Agencies Struggling
A few examples of agencies struggling to meet ADA requirements include Cal Fire, the Department of Water Resources and CalTran. All three agencies have taken steps to remove reports and other documents from their websites, as a result of trying to comply or improve compliance with the ADA. As for what reports and documents have been removed, they range from wildlife reports to environmental impact reports, as well as internal human resources guides to name a few. All of these documents were available for the public to view, but as of now the public can no longer access many of these documents and reports.
What Is the Law Meant to Do?
To give you a better idea of why agencies are struggling, let’s talk about what the law is actually meant to do. The law is designed to ensure that everyone throughout California can apply for jobs on state websites, as well as find important information on such sites. However, this has resulted in many departments having to take down documents, instead of making them accessible or making them machine-readable, and it doesn’t look like these documents are returning anytime soon.
Why Are They Struggling
There are several reasons why agencies may be struggling, with one being the costs involved with making an entire website ADA compliant. The overhaul has become very costly, and many agencies may not have been prepared to take on such costs. As a result, this has played a role in their decision to remove documents.
Another reason is the amount of labor that is involved with making a website and its information compliant with ADA rules. In fact, it’s considered a labor-intensive task and a lot of work has to be undertaken. Once again, some agencies may have felt it was just easier to remove documents and information instead of undertaken the work that would be involved.
Is There an Issue
Although some may not think it’s a big deal for websites to remove info instead of making it accessible, there are a few researchers who believe that transparency has been diminish. Some have said there’s a large trade-off because documents should be accessible to those with disabilities, but if the process of doing so causes documents to be removed on a permanent basis or for years at a time, then that is concerning. Some believe this trade-off is too big.
What Are Californian Agencies Doing
As of now, officials are trying to make changes because they want to make it easier for the public to access documents and other information via their websites. However, they want to do so in a way that doesn’t clutter up the sites, as this would make searching for information more of a challenge.
A few agencies’ sites were not equipped for machine-readers, which would read out questions to those who are visually impaired. This meant that some people could apply for college. Then there were people who could not lodge job applications.
As you can see, California agencies are struggling to meet ADA requirements. Not all of them are, but a good portion of them continue to struggle. If an agency is finding it difficult to meet the requirements, then they should seek out expert help as soon as possible.