Crafting an Accessibility Policy/Statement

Either after or during the initial assessment of your city’s accessibility, your top priority should be to craft an accessibility policy and statement, to inform the public, and specifically residents with disabilities, that you understand your responsibility to be accessible, and that you have a comprehensive plan to do so. 

These can follow a number of templates and formats, but they all boil down to the same messaging:

• We understand our responsibility and are taking accessibility seriously, 
• We have an open-source plan to address accessibility that has already commenced,
• Here is a point of contact you can reach out to if you have any concerns or questions

Organizational Stance Toward Accessibility

The first crucial thing that an accessibility policy and statement does is inform your residents that you understand your responsibility to make your products services and information accessible, and that you are taking it seriously. One of the biggest reasons that people with disabilities are suing cities so rapidly is that they feel like their cities don’t care about them. This helps alleviate those concerns.

Show Good Faith Efforts to Become Accessible

The second important thing that a public-facing accessibility policy and statement does is shows your residents that you are truly committed to addressing accessibility, that you have a plan to do it, and that you’ve already started. This will also mitigate risk of a lawsuit, as you are already doing the things a court will mandate you to do.

Provide Accessibility Feedback Mechanism

The last, and most critical thing that an accessibility statement and policy does is providing residents with and without disabilities who encounter accessibility issues a feedback mechanism; either an email address or phone number leading to a dedicated accessibility specialist that they can reach out to with questions, concerns, and specific issues.