Accomplishments 2023: Accessibility Services

• 2023 By the Numbers
• Research, Evaluation, and Analytic Services
• Training and Technical Assistance
• Product Development
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Strategic Communication and Outreach
• Accessibility Services
• Website and Software Development

Accessibility Services

At New Editions, we believe that accessibility should be a normal course of action rather than an afterthought. We help our clients integrate accessibility into their operations to help them provide the richest environment possible for their users. New Editions assisted federal agencies improve their accessibility programs and accessibility of digital content, and we added the Small Business Administration and Social Security Administration as clients. This year, prompted by a recent interagency accessibility conference we attended, our team reflected on the larger impact we have had on the field of accessibility through our many former employees that now work within the Federal government and lead their accessibility programs. Two prior employees are at General Services Administration (GSA); one is the Director of the GSA Government-wide IT Accessibility Program and he is supported by another excellent former New Editions’ employee. We have a previous employee who helps lead the Accessibility and Usability program at Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which created the widely respected Trusted Tester web assessment process (with our assistance), and several former staff members support their large program office. We also have past employees providing 508 expertise and leading agency accessibility efforts at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Treasury, TransportationSecurity Administration (TSA), and the Access Board. It’s bitter sweet that they are no longer employees, and while we miss them at New Editions, our goal has always been to increase the awareness and availability of ICT for people with disabilities. We make it a priority for our staff to continue to grow in their accessibility expertise, and it is satisfying to see that we are also building capacity in the Federal space. With our talented folks leading the way in their respective agencies, they are able to influence accessibility at the policy and decision-making levels; and it’s gratifying to see this greater impact on accessibility and conformance in the Federal space.

• Sponsored Best Paper Award-2023 ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium: New Editions believes it is important to support the accessibility field and encourage new ideas as well as disseminate emerging best practices and advancements in the accessibility field. In that vein, we sponsored the Best Paper award again this year at the 7th Annual ICT Testing Symposium and were pleased to present the award in honor of Alan King, a former employee and brilliant accessibility expert.
• Developed training sessions to stay abreast of accessibility best practices through learning sessions and company-wide accessibility workshops, covering topics such as How to Use JAWS, Creating Accessible Excel Documents, Mobile Test Process Updates, and How to Create Captions.
• Facilitated an increase in accessibility for UiPath automation products. We also collaborated in development of a robot to auto-generate Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) using JIRA defects. This year the VPAT was generated solely using AI, with a quick review by New Editions staff. The time it took to create the VPAT on this very large system was reduced significantly.
• Provide accessibility support to DHS Accessibility and Usability program (formerly OAST), which included staff integration into the accessibility of the Customer Experience group and working together on tasks such as Accessibility & Language Services (A&LS) website redesign.
• Assisted with updating the Trusted Tester Training, including creating new exam questions and developing the training on a new platform that will allow for easy updates in response to the ever-changing accessibility environment.
• Helped DHS components surpass their goal for website compliance - achieving a weighted score of 82% for all DHS websites. This was a 9% increase from this time last year. This goal was achieved by meeting with DHS Section 508 program managers and web developers to discuss remediation strategies and update outdated web templates.
• Assisted the DHS in assessing and updating the usability of the DHS Section 508 playbook. The playbook was created to assist DHS components in creating and maintaining information and communications technology that is accessible to and usable by the widest possible audience. To accomplish its goal, the playbook provides guidelines, best practices, and other resources to help integrate accessibility into IT projects throughout the entire software development life cycle.
• Facilitated awareness and the ability to create accessible documents at the DHS headquarters, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). We provided trainings tailored to the office’s content creators and completed job aids for CRCL employees. These were recorded and stored in a central repository for future reference and use.
• Helped United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service developers insert accessibility testing into the development lifecycle by training them on the JAWS + Axe DevTools/ Siteimprove browser extensions Section 508 test process that we created for them. This approach of browser plug-in web testing automation helps test quickly, supplemented with a user-focused manual test process using JAWS to create accessible software from the beginning.
• Provided Section 508 technical assistance to Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) grantees to teach them how to make their products accessible to all users, making the National Clearinghouse for Rehabilitation and Training Materials products accessible, Also helped them create an accessibility statement for their program.
• Created a FCC Web Accessibility Guidance document to provide developers tailored guidance on how to fix Trusted Tester and AMP defects found during testing.
• Continued training FCC staff and developers in creating accessible content. Also helped to remediate high profile documents such as the FCC Annual Financial Report.
• Facilitated inserting 508 in different policies, procedures, and business development workflows at FCC.
• Updated or Mobile test process for iOS to align with WCAG 2.1 for TSA and New Editions home office.
• Ensured communication and questions posed to TSA customers are accessible to people with disabilities by creating accessible TSA Surveys to ensure communication and questions posed to employees and the public are accessible to all. We developed 320 surveys and provided over 1760 summary reports and data through our survey support.
• Helped Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation make their rate setting schedules accessible to all constituents. This was a joint effort between New Editions’ accessibility and research and evaluation teams, and included remediating existing schedules and ensuring all macros and formulas worked as intended after remediation, by repopulating, creating, and repairing formulas and macros within more than 70 Excel workbooks. These documents included, but were not limited to, irrigation and municipal and industrial schedules.
• Our team at TSA continues to raise awareness and skill levels for accessible electronic documents by providing training to TSA employees throughout the year. We provide clients with guidance on how to build accessibility into documentation from the beginning to save money, time, and stress at the end.
• Facilitated completion of the 508 Government-wide Section 508 Assessment for FCC and TSA. All agencies are required to participate in reporting activities on the maturity and conformance of Section 508 within their agencies. The annual assessment was updated this year, and reporting requirements were more robust. The information collected assists Office of Management and Budget, GSA, the Access Board, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in fulfilling statutory reporting requirements to evaluate agency implementation progress
• Assisted many federal contractors ensure their eLearning, electronic documents, multimedia and other ICT deliverables meet Section 508 requirements and are accepted by agency Section 508 offices. We also helped some agencies develop accessibility frameworks and/or statements to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to accessibility.
• Ensured accessibility of documents posted to CMS Medicaid.gov site. New Editions remediated 44 State Corrective Action Plan Requests, 43 January 1st Submissions, 10 state responses to site visit reports, and 20 Final Statewide Transition Plans in support of CMS activities to implement the HCB Settings Rule.