Neera Tanden Remarks to Press on Web Accessibility
As Prepared For Delivery:
Thank you, everyone, for joining today’s call on important actions we’re taking to strengthen the civil rights of America’s 61 million people with disabilities.
Tomorrow marks the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA has been a driving force in moving America closer to the promise of equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to fulfilling the promise of the ADA and all of our disability civil rights laws.
In fact, in one of his first acts as a new Senator, President Biden co-sponsored the Rehabilitation Act—America’s first disability civil rights law.
To this day, he remains a proud champion of disability rights across the United States.
When the ADA was enacted in 1990, the internet was a nascent technology.
Today, we know how central it is to being a full participant in American society.
State and local governments provide services that are essential to participating in our society, including voting, education, transportation, job training, and social services.
Today, many of those services have shifted online, but websites and mobile apps have not been made accessible.
The Biden-Harris Administration is taking important steps to correct these problems and strengthen the ADA.
Today, we are so proud to announce our efforts to improve online accessibility to state and local services for nearly 50 million people with vision, hearing, cognitive, and manual dexterity disabilities.
We are announcing a proposed rule that will provide technical standards for state and local governments to provide access for their residents with disabilities.
My colleagues in the Department of Justice will outline this in greater detail.
Today’s announcement builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s existing track record. We are deeply committed to achieving a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable country for people with disabilities.
For example, the President’s Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce is advancing equity for federal employees with disabilities. He has directed agencies to: maximize the physical accessibility of workplaces; ensure employees and applicants are aware of Schedule A hiring, which streamlines the hiring process for people with disabilities; provide an efficient process for responding to accommodations requests; and more.
President Biden has also historic investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
These laws already are strengthening accessible infrastructure, providing affordable internet, expanding access to health care, and increasing access to educational and job opportunities for Americans with disabilities.
Today’s action builds on this track record. It will help the ADA live up to its full promise—to ensure full inclusion for Americans with disabilities. And we have more work to do to finish the job.
With that, I’m happy to turn it over to U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
