Make Your Social Media Posts Accessible: How to Add Alt Text
Accessibility
HHS Finalizes Rule Strengthening Protections Against Disability Discrimination
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has updated the regulations that prohibit discrimination based on disabilities to clarify obligations in several critical areas. Specifically, the rule:
- Ensures that medical treatment decisions are not based on negative biases or stereotypes about individuals with disabilities, judgments that an individual with a disability will be a burden on others, or dehumanizing beliefs that the life of an individual with a disability has less value than the life of a person without a disability.
- Prohibits the use of any measure, assessment, or tool that discounts the value of a life extension on the basis of disability to deny, limit, or otherwise condition access to an aid, benefit or service.
- Defines what accessibility means for websites and mobile applications and sets forth a specific technical standard to ensure that health care and human service activities delivered through these platforms are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.
- Adopts the U.S. Access Board’s standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment, like exam tables and mammography machines.
- Details requirements to ensure nondiscrimination in the services provided by HHS funded child welfare agencies, including, but not limited to, reasonable efforts to prevent foster care placement, parent-child visitation, reunification services, child placement, parenting skills programs, and in- and out-of-home services.
- Clarifies obligations to provide services in the most integrated setting, like receiving services in one’s own home, appropriate to the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Additionally, the Final Rule updates existing requirements to make them consistent with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), as many HHS recipients are also covered by the ADA. This consistency will improve and simplify compliance.
View the full press release here. If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.
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FEMA Releases Updated Training Course on Including People With Disabilities in Disaster Operations
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC) has released a new version of its training course titled “IS-368.A: Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Operations.”
The course is designed for all personnel involved in disaster operations. It provides an introductory overview of information and strategies on how to include people with disabilities during mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
The course focuses on:
- The difference between disabilities and access and functional needs;
- FEMA’s actions supporting the integration of people with disabilities in disaster operations and ways to shorten the disaster cycle for them;
- The differences between equity and equality;
- Ways to ensure terminology is in alignment with the needs of people with disabilities;
- Messaging to ensure inclusivity and accessibility to all emergency managers; and
- Guidance to FEMA staff on how to ensure physical, program, and communication access to the whole community.
The course is live now and can be accessed on FEMA’s official website. The self-paced course should take two hours to complete.
U.S. Access Board & The Sierra Group Invite You on 9/14 for Complimentary Trainings and More
PDFs, Word Documents, and Websites, Oh My!
Your professional communications and content are not automatically inclusive to everyone, but it can be – learn how on Wednesday morning, September, 14, 2022, at an in-person, free training at 399 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA. Register soon, as space is limited!
Why Be Accessible? So that someone with a disability has the same access to your information as everyone else. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the law.
- Section 508 and WCAG Questions and Answers
- This Q&A session on Section 508 Standards and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is intended for intermediate to advanced developers. U.S. Access Board digital accessibility specialists will answer common (and not so common) questions on implementation of digital accessibility standards for information and communication technology (ICT). Presenters will highlight Section 508 tools and resources and development of an ICT Testing Baseline portfolio. Questions should be submitted in advance of the training via email with the subject line “Question for September 14 ICT Training.” Registration is required by September 7, 2022.
- Making Documents Accessible
- This hands-on workshop will review issues associated with creating accessible documents when using Microsoft Word. The session will also touch on accessibility issues when exporting to PDF and using Microsoft PowerPoint. The presenters will review best practices and resources developed by the Accessible Electronic Documents (AED) Community of Practice (CoP) that are helpful to all members of the public who are responsible for creating, posting, and distributing electronic content. Attendees are highly encouraged to bring their own laptop computer. Registration is required by September 7, 2022.
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Hungry for More?
Stay for lunch upstairs at the Sierra-Tamman Suite. We will provide food, AT, & digital accessibility demos along with conversations about the deeper dive relationship between assistive technology accommodations and digital platform mandates. We can host up to 25 guests for lunch, first come first served.
Need job skills to enter today’s changing workplace? The Sierra Group Academy’s training center for adults with disabilities (HYBRID program) is now housed within the high tech, digitally-inclusive office suite at 399 Market Street in downtown Philly. Adult learners from across PA and Delaware will join us remotely. Additionally, customers in the center city region are once again able to come and go to our on-site program at their convenience. Together we all do better.
Conference to Focus on Expanding Choice & Control in Housing for Individuals With Disabilities
The Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania (SDHP) Conference “Housing as a Human Right: Elevating Accessible Solutions” is coming up on May 5, 2022. This one-day conference is being held at the Holiday Inn Hershey/Harrisburg and will focus on expanding choice and control in housing for people with disabilities. The conference will include both in-person and some virtual programming. The conference will bring together leaders from across the commonwealth to discuss best practices and trends in accessible housing as well as address the systemic issues that people with disabilities face every day.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Forms New Task Force Focused on Helping Those With Autism Spectrum Disorders in Court System
