Entities try to get online with ADA

Local entities that receive federal funding have long had to deal with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But as the world turns to the Internet, they have to make sure they are compliant online, as well.

 The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that ADA’s requirements against discrimination apply to state and local government websites.

According to the justice department’s ADA web page, websites should be made easier to access for those with vision disabilities. Among the adjustments that should be made are including text equivalents for images like maps. The text would be available with audio descriptions to disabled people with proper software.

“We’ve gone to great lengths to make ours comply,” said Don Carlton, Odessa’s information services director.

Carlton said the city’s website can be read with voice technology and also offers enlarged text.

At Ector County, information technology director Stephen White said the county has a new website in the works that’s being designed by the Texas Association of Counties.

Elna Christopher, association of counties spokeswoman, said the new website will be ADA compliant.

“As the Internet takes up more and more use in our world, it’s a good idea for a county like Ector to be able to do this for its citizens and taxpayers,” she said.

But entities aren’t even sure if they are required to be compliant. While Christopher said it is necessary, the city’s Carlton said he was under the impression that compliance is voluntary.

“I haven’t worried about it too much since I’ve been told our website is in compliance,” Carlton said.

 Damon Jackson, information technology director for the Ector County Independent School District, said the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool showed the district’s website to be behind several university websites in conforming to regulations, but ahead of a number of other websites.

On Thursday, the evaluation site showed the ECISD website with 21 accessibility errors. The same website showed the city of Odessa with three accessibility errors and the current Ector County site with five errors. Medical Center Hospital’s website was shown to have two errors.

For the most part, Odessa entities’ websites compared favorably to their Midland counterparts in accessibility for the disabled. Midland ISD has 24 accessibility errors on its home page, the evaluation tool showed. Meanwhile, the city of Midland had 31 errors on its site and Midland Memorial Hospital had 27 errors.

Only Midland County’s website, with one error on the home page, had fewer than the corresponding Odessa-based entity.

Jackson said ECISD uses third-party software that is designed to be more ADA compliant. It has features like requiring the webmaster to insert text describing a photo in a picture box before a photo can be placed on a website.

“There’s been some learning curves and readjustment time, but since then, there’s been a really minimal amount of problems,” Jackson said.