Federal Digital Accessibility Disappearance on Trump Day One – Go Health Pro

By Eve Hill

On his first day in office, President Trump sent a loud message with the disappearance of the White House Accessibility Statement from the White House website. The rapid removal of this statement is not just symbolic – it signals a larger problem. On the same day, two critical Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memoranda were removed from the White House website and archived. This deliberate erasure of accessibility bears significant implications for both government transparency and accessibility for people with disabilities.

Federal Website Accessibility: A History of Progress and Uncertainty

Under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act,  information and communication technology purchased or used by the federal government must to be accessible in conformance with federal digital accessibility guidelines based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level A and AA (WCAG). Unfortunately, anyone familiar with accessibility barriers is well aware of the fact that laws don’t implement themselves.

Despite Section 508 being in place since  1998, people with disabilities have still faced significant barriers to accessing federal digital information and services over the years, up to the present day. OMB Memorandum M-24-08, implemented under the Biden administration in December 2023, set out to improve accountability and transparency of Section 508 compliance.

Key points included requiring federal agencies to do the following:

• post an accessibility statement
• designate a Section 508 program manager
• assess, update, and publish their accessibility policies and procedures
• report on their progress

In an effort to enforce accountability and measure progress, the Memorandum also required the General Services Administration and the Access Board to implement a standardized reporting process for agencies to report on their accessibility efforts and progress,  expand training on Section 508, and explore the creation of an accessibility testing lab.

OMB Memorandum M-23-22, introduced in September 2023, implemented the 21^st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, requiring federal agencies to ensure their websites, digital services, and mobile applications were, among other things, accessible to people with diverse disabilities.

M-23-22 also introduced other requirements, including requiring federal agencies to provide forms and services through digital formats.

Additionally, any new or redesigned websites, services and forms were required to be fully accessible by March 20, 2024 and agencies were required to prioritize digitization and accessibility of existing sites, services and forms. Furthermore, it provided for annual reporting of agencies’ progress.

These memoranda drove agencies to These are more than just “memos” – federal agencies are required to follow them. After more than two decades of Section 508 being in place, federal attention to accessibility finally improved over the past two years, largely in part to these memoranda. And the results were transparent through substantive GSA reports on the subject. While some improvements were made,  there was still more work to do, with only 23% of the top-visited public federal websites fully conformed to the Section 508 standards.

However the new administration’s apparent disinterest in continuing these initiatives leaves transparency and accountability at risk. I fear all that progress will now stop if GSA, Congress, and the public are not getting insight into agencies’ status and progress through required transparent reports implemented under M-24-08. Where it was becoming possible to rely on government self-oversight, that option ceases to exist now, and like other accessibility initiatives, the burden of enforcing the law will fall increasingly on private individuals and organizations.

State and Local Government Websites: Title II in Question

Concerning the accessibility of state and local governments, including public schools and public colleges, the Department of Justice issued a final regulation clarifying that Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers the websites of state and local governments and requires them to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

As of right now, we still don’t know if:

• the new Administration will take action to revoke that rule, or
• the federal government will enforce that rule when it becomes effective in a little less than two years (currently, the Civil Rights Division is subject to a White House-mandated freeze on enforcement of all civil rights).

Thankfully, it is difficult to revoke a rule. The lengthy process would require the administrationto go through a full rulemaking process, consisting ofdrafting the rule, providing notice and accepting comments on the rule, addressing the comments, and issuing a final rule.

State and local government entities were already covered by Title II of the ADA regardless of the rule, which has always required equally effective communication for people with and without disabilities. To change this would require an amendment to the law to exempt state and local government websites.  Whether the Trump Administration cares enough about this issue to take action to amend the law, which is even more difficult than rescinding a rule, remains unclear.

Private Business Websites: A Murky Future

With regards to private business websites, the Department of Justice’s Unified Regulatory Agenda did previously signal its intent to issue a similar rule under Title III of the ADA covering private business websites. Given the anti-regulatory approach of this Administration, that regulation appears very unlikely to move forward.

Even without a regulation, most courts find that Title III of the ADA requires accessibility of, at least, businesses that have physical brick-and-mortar stores. The question ofwhether online-only businesses are subject to Title III accessibility requirements will remain in the courts. Despite the Department of Justice having always said they are covered, it hasn’t done much to enforce that requirement against online-only businesses. I expect there to be more silence on this question in the next few years. But that circuit split makes little difference, because websites are accessible nationally and can be sued in the circuits that apply the ADA to online-only businesses.

I anticipate that the enforcement of both Title III’s existing “effective communication” requirement and Title II’s more specific regulatory requirements will continue to fall largely on private individuals and organizations in court. The Department of Justice may not do much to enforce those requirements, but that won’t stop private enforcement.

State laws also contribute with some mandating website accessibility and offering damages, unlike Title III.

The Road Ahead

The removal of the OMB accessibility directives and the broader deregulatory agenda pose a serious threat to digital accessibility. Without the help of government transparency and enforcement, it will be up to private citizens, advocacy organizations, and the courts to continue to ensure the increasingly digital world is open to people with disabilities.

The fight for accessible digital spaces is far from over – and right now, it may be losing ground. Continued advocacy and vigilance will be critical to preserving and expanding the progress made over the past two decades.