Final Letter Report on the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities’ Compliance with Local Law 26 of 2016 Regarding Accessibility of City Government Websites for Persons with Disabilities
Executive Summary
This Final Letter Report concerns the New York City Comptroller’s audit of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities’ (MOPD’s) compliance with Local Law 26, which governs the accessibility of City government websites for persons with disabilities. The objective of this audit was to determine whether MOPD is complying with Local Law 26, which is intended to make City agencies, and ultimately the City as a whole, more accessible to residents with disabilities and ensure that they have adequate access to City websites and services provided on these websites. Under Local Law 26, MOPD has been designated to develop a protocol related to website accessibility for persons with disabilities to be adopted for websites maintained by the City and City agencies. Our audit of MOPD is one in a series of audits we are conducting on the City’s compliance with local laws relating to people with disabilities.
Audit Findings and Conclusions
Our audit found that MOPD generally complied with Local Law 26. MOPD and adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA developed by the World Wide Web Consortium for digital accessibility for City agency websites. In addition, MOPD’s website has a dedicated Digital Accessibility page listed on its Resources page that provides a link to the World Wide Web Consortium’s website for a detailed overview of digital accessibility protocols. MOPD also issued reports on the accessibility of City agency websites for 2017 and 2019 that are based upon WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards.
Our audit also found that MOPD has developed guides and a checklist to aid City agencies in creating accessible content and ensuring digital accessibility for individuals with disabilities, including for websites, electronic documents, presentations, videos, and social media posts. The guides and checklist are available on MOPD’s website, which also provides essential information on disability access and digital accessibility resources for following WCAG 2.0 Level AA guidelines. Moreover, to ensure digital accessibility for people with disabilities, MOPD has a Digital Accessibility Coordinator who audits City agency websites, assists with the writing of the disability accessibility reports, and provides guidance to agencies on how to make digital content accessible. The Digital Accessibility Coordinator also conducts trainings and organizes educational events for City employees and the public to learn more about creating accessible digital content.
Audit Recommendations
The audit recommends that MOPD continue to maintain its compliance with Local Law 26 to ensure it effectively meets the needs of residents with disabilities when accessing City services online.
Agency Response
In its response, MOPD agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendation, stating, “MOPD thanks the Office of the Comptroller for its findings that MOPD generally complies with Local Law 26 and is upholding its responsibilities to New Yorkers with disabilities. MOPD will continue to maintain compliance with Local Law 26 so that we can continue to effectively ensure that we meet the needs of individuals with disabilities who seek access to city services, resources, and benefits via city government websites.”