Accessibility

From IT decentralization to education spending transparency, state legislators are looking to cut waste, improve oversight and reshape agency responsibilities. Bills address tech, cybersecurity, procurement and outdated language.

The company’s new step-by-step wayfinding app is available to users of the Washington, D.C., transit system. It spans 11,000 bus stops on 325 routes, as well as 98 rail stations, and does not collect personal data.

Benetech, a nonprofit focused on equity in education, will launch an AI-powered system to make STEM learning materials accessible and interactive for students who are neurodivergent or visually impaired.

The U.S. Department of Education issued guidance this week on steps school systems can take to make accessibility a core component of K-12 learning technology, including who to involve and what resources to consult.

A nonprofit service called eduroam, which has long helped university students securely access wireless networks throughout the U.S. and around the world, is now available or on the way for K-12 students in nine states.

The U.S. Access Board highlighted its initial findings on the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence for people with disabilities, offering recommendations to promote responsible use.

The state has been working diligently in recent years to make its services more accessible to constituents. The latest development is TAX2GO, which makes taxpaying services mobile; others are in the works.

Completed in less than a year, the new state website combines 64 separate state sites into a unified digital destination with a smoothed search function. The Pennsylvania Office of Digital Experience led the effort.

Plus, the BEAD Progress Dashboard gets updated this week, a comprehensive report examines website accessibility across government, and one Georgia county gets to work on digital inclusion.

This year, local and state governments increased access to digital services for people with disabilities, in part due to a new ruling from the DOJ.

A teacher and student at Deering High School in Portland, Maine, created a translation website to help teachers reach non-English families. It's now in use in 40 Maine school districts, nine states and one international school.

Several recent initiatives from the Beeck Center are intended to assist the public sector in digital service delivery, including FormFest 2024 and the Digital Government Hub, an innovation-focused fellowship.

In a pivotal year, governments enacted AI laws, strengthened defenses, bridged the broadband gap, and prioritized accessible, user-friendly digital services. As 2025 nears, most jurisdictions still lack fully mature AI frameworks.

Artificial intelligence may have been the topic on many minds this year, but cybersecurity and risk management topped NASCIO’s annual list of the top 10 priorities for state CIOs. AI did, however, rise to second place this year.

Many organizations have incorporated technology into their hiring processes. The Center for Democracy and Technology studied how one hiring technology — digitized assessments — impacts job seekers with disabilities.

The biggest news in artificial intelligence, accessibility, cybersecurity, ed tech, government experience and public safety. Our annual review of the top headlines from 2024 also looks at what’s in store for state and local IT next year.

While the work to introduce computer science concepts early in education is growing, accessible design should be a core component of the subject as students learn about web and mobile app development.

The Virginia Information Technologies Agency is spearheading work to improve the accessibility and usability of state sites. It is providing oversight, tools and resources to other agencies to update their online presence.