AFB’s Public Policy and Research Institute (PPRI) remained diligent in its efforts to support AFB’s strategic goal of generating knowledge that drives change through advocacy and research.
In spring 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice created a regulation for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act pertaining to website and application accessibility requirements for state and local governments. Before issuing the rule, the agency took public comments from AFB regarding ways to strengthen the rulemaking to better protect the interests of blind and low-vision K-12 and higher education students. When the agency issued its final rule, it cited AFB education research explicitly and made reference to many key issues highlighted in AFB advocacy as a rationale for dropping provisions to strengthen the rule for blind people.
“We have waited so long to have binding regulations in the web and app space,” said Stephanie Enyart, chief public policy and research officer. “This is meaningful because it’s how we connect with many essential aspects of public life, such as voting, local utilities, educational environments, and more. It will be game-changing to have the autonomy and privacy to interact independently with every state and local entity, and we believe it creates a foundation for our future efforts to further expand accessibility.”
Moreover, AFB’s persistent advocacy led to the reintroduction of the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act in September 2023, which has bipartisan support. The proposed legislation works alongside the ADA to ensure that employers, governments, and businesses follow the best standards for producing accessible applications and online content. It also requires companies that design websites and applications to make them accessible, since entities large and small rely heavily on third parties to build the digital products they deploy.
As for research, the second phase of AFB’s Barriers to Digital Inclusion Survey (BDIS) was released in May 2024, revealing more details on the challenges people who are blind or low vision face in using websites and mobile apps.
“We did this diary study to get more detailed insights into what people experience day to day,” said Arielle Silverman, Ph.D., director of research. “Learning more about barriers is valuable data, as is the information we received on good experiences, which demonstrate what happens when you remove barriers.”
AFB’s researchers also embarked on the first phase of research on artificial intelligence (AI), which will continue in FY2025 and beyond. The goal is to understand the potential benefits and risks of AI for people who are blind and have low vision.
Another accomplishment in FY2024 was the creation of fact sheets and summaries of AFB’s research studies to date. These brief overviews are designed to make AFB’s research more reader-friendly for a broader audience.
“These summaries should give people a quick, easy way to identify what we found in each study,” Dr. Silverman said, “and help us share our findings with people who have the power to implement systems change.”
These materials, along with research-based toolkits AFB created to guide the creation of more inclusive, accessible public environments, are available at www.afb.org/research.
