Concerning the Inaccessibility of State Government Websites and Electronic Media

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the National Federation of the Blind to remove the social, legal, and economic barriers faced by the blind; and

WHEREAS, the goal of the federation is the full integration of the blind into society on terms of equality; and

WHEREAS, in 2006 the convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida passed Resolution 2006-04 asserting that we will not tolerate this unlawful and immoral denial of our right to fully participate in Florida society; and

WHEREAS, after fourteen years the state of Florida continues to illegally utilize inaccessible media to communicate with its citizens; and

WHEREAS, many blind and otherwise disabled Floridians use access technology to read electronic media such as web pages, electronic correspondence and computer generated documents that are readily available to sighted citizens; and

WHEREAS, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 contains provisions that require accessibility standards that allow blind persons full and equal access to the entire range of electronic media of public entities available to the general public; and

WHEREAS, the World Wide Web Consortium “W3C” promulgated guidelines to make websites, documents and digital comments uniformly accessible to all individuals and

WHEREAS, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines “WCAG” provide criteria to facilitate accessible content across multiple media and

WHEREAS, the proclamation on the Juneteenth Celebration sent by Governor Ron DeSantis via email illustrates the negligent behavior of refusing to make the Portable Digital Format “PDF” file accessible to the blind and

WHEREAS, the inability to fully access these electronic media prevents blind persons from participating in Florida’s social, legal, and economic aspects by creating artificial, unnecessary and unacceptable barriers to important information available to other residents of Florida and

WHEREAS , the Legislature of the State of Florida, in blatant disregard of the needs of blind citizens, continues to permit electronic inaccessible media to be released;

now THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Florida in convention assembled this [blank] day of October 2020, that we do not tolerate this unlawful and immoral denial of our right to fully participate in Florida society; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that Governor Ron DeSantis ensure that blind persons have full and equal access to all Florida State electronic information through any public entity or contractor and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the National Federation of the Blind of Florida shall use all appropriate means including legal action, should it prove necessary, to ensure the State of Florida make all web content, documents and media fully accessible to all blind Floridians.