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What is the Office of Accessibility, and what does "accessibility" mean?
2/27/2018 4:33:50 PM
In 2009, the state legislature charged the State Chief Information Officer /CIO, also known as the Minnesota IT Services Commissioner to create state accessibility and usability standards (16E.03, subd. 9) for information technology, software, and hardware. The same statute charged the State CIO to "require state agencies to adhere to the standards developed under this subdivision."
A related statute created the Technology Accessibility Advisory Committee (TAAC), with representatives from multiple state agencies. While the TAAC mandate ended in 2013, Minnesota IT Services incorporated the same committee within its permanent governance structure.
Starting in 2011, the legislature appropriated funds for use by "the chief information officer for the purpose of coordinating technology accessibility and usability." (Chapter 94 - S.F. 1456) Those funds set up the Office of Accessibility, headed by the Chief Information Accessibility Officer (CIAO).
The /mnit/government/policies/accessibility/index.jspstate accessibility standard and the Office of Accessibility were intended by the legislature to be a resource for all state agencies, to help agencies fulfill their obligations to make their communications and information technologies accessible to all state citizens and employees.
Since those beginnings, we've:
And now, we're publishing a newsletter, designed to share our information and resources with you.
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"Access" is defined in various dictionaries as both a noun and a verb-approaching or entering a place, or in computing terms, to obtain, examine, or retrieve data or a file. Given these terms, what would you say is the definition of "accessibility?"
In 16E.015, the legislature declared that "'Accessibility' and 'accessible' are defined by the accessibility standards developed and required under section 16E.03." In other words, the legislature asked the State CIO to develop a statewide accessibility standard, and further declared that standard to be the resource for how to define what is accessible.
So we look at accessibility, not so much as a definition, but as a means to the goal that any individual, including those with disabilities, is able to use all information technology such as websites and applications and obtain any needed information.
Accessibility