IT Is Not the Owner of Your Content

Most content on a state DOT’s website was not produced by the agency. It was produced by AEC consulting firms under contracts written before the ADA Title II mandate existed. Those firms deliver exactly what was asked for, but what was asked for is no longer sufficient. In this episode, Becky Rehorn explains why assigning digital accessibility to IT misses the structural gap, why the deadline extension creates both opportunity and risk for the content pipeline, and what organizational model actually closes the gap between how work is scoped and what the law now requires. Read the full post and download the ADA Title II Readiness Checklist at aogaccess.com.

Access Brief is produced by Accessible Organizations Group LLC.

Transcript

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This is Access Brief from Accessible Organizations Group. I'm Becky Rehorn. Each week we look at a different dimension of digital accessibility for transportation agencies, public engagement processes, and the AEC firms that support them. Today I want to talk about something that is not a technical problem. It is an organizational one. And it starts with a question that I think a lot of agencies have not had the chance to think through yet. The biggest digital accessibility challenge most public agencies have not yet addressed is not the agency website. It is the content being delivered by consulting firms every week under contracts that were written before the mandate existed. Think about what is on a state DOT's website, environmental documents, public involvement plans, design reports, long range transportation plans, project fact sheets, meeting materials. The majority of that content was not produced by the agency. AEC consulting firms produced it under contract, and this is not a criticism of those firms. The system was built before the DOJ's final rule required WCAG two point one double A for digital content. Accessibility was never part of the scope of work, the QA checklist, or the production workflow because the mandate did not require it. The firms have been delivering exactly what was asked for. The issue is that what was asked for is no longer sufficient. So when an agency realizes it has a digital accessibility obligation, what usually happens? It gets assigned to IT, and that makes sense on the surface. Digital accessibility sounds like a technology problem. IT manages the website, the content management system. It feels like their job, but IT did not write those environmental documents. IT did not design those public involvement materials. IT did not produce those planning deliverables. IT manages the infrastructure the content sits on. They do not control what gets published to it. Digital accessibility needs IT as a partner. But making IT the sole owner puts accountability with the one group that does not control the content production process. The content is produced by communication staff, by project delivery teams, by planning divisions, and by consulting firms. Those are the groups where the workflow needs to evolve. Now here's where the timeline matters. When the DOJ extended the ADA Title II deadline to april twenty twenty seven, that created real opportunity for agencies to build capability, and some agencies are using that time well. But the content pipeline does not pause because a deadline moved. Every week, consulting firms are delivering new documents to their clients, and every deliverable produced under the existing process without accessibility built in is a document that either gets remediated later or stays non conformant when the deadline arrives. The backlog grows while agencies plan. The extension is an opportunity, but it is only an opportunity if agencies use it to change how content is produced and procured, not just to extend the timeline for addressing what is already out there. So what does it look like when an agency gets this right? Three things. First, a named accessibility lead with authority that crosses departmental lines, not someone buried in IT. Someone who can set standards, work with content producers, and coordinate across the organization and with external partners. Second, training and tools for every group that produces content. Not a one time awareness session, ongoing support embedded in existing workflows. The communications team, the project delivery group, the planning division, they all need to understand what accessible production looks like because they are the ones doing the work. Third, and this is the one that closes the consultant gap. It is procurement language. When accessibility is in the scope of work, it is in the budget. When it is in the contract, it is in the QA process. When it is in the deliverable acceptance criteria, the consulting firm's project manager has a clear reason to build it into their workflow. The standard for a complete deliverable changes at the point where the work is assigned. Two questions worth taking away from this. If your agency has assigned digital accessibility to IT, does IT produce the content that needs to be accessible? If the answer is no, it may be time to think about a broader model where IT is a partner rather than the sole owner. And if your agency is using the deadline extension to plan ahead, how are the deliverables coming in from consultants this month being produced? If the answer is the same way they have always been produced, this is a good time to start that conversation. The extension gave you time. What you do with that time is what matters. This is a lot of information to take in, and I appreciate you spending a few minutes with me today. If you are working through how to structure accessibility in your organization, the ADA Title II Readiness Checklist at AOGAccess.com covers the organizational dimensions along with the technical ones. I'm also finishing a book on this subject Real, Relevant, Required, a Practitioner's Guide to ADA Title II Digital Accessibility. More on that soon. The written version of today's episode is on the blog at AOGAccess.com. This is not an easy lift. So keep moving forward with your digital accessibility journey. The people you serve will appreciate the effort.