Online Express & ADA Complience (Americans with Disabilities Act)

Gerald Ollison

We are an educational institution, and ADA Compliance on the Internet has recently become a really BIG DEAL (as in, legally 'mandated', with a deadline...) for us- and I'd imagine 'any' of Blackbaud's customers who use Online Express OLX.



Has anyone else out there run into this ADA Legal issue yet, at an educational institution or any other organization..?



Prior to signing our contract we were assured by our Blackbaud Rep that, "I spoke with our Product Manager for OLX. He said they have added the ADA Certification to the Product Roadmap for April. That means they will begin the process for seeking ADA Certification next month."



We have just entered into our implementation phase for NXT...  So, I followed up with our on-boarding contact just to find out where we were with this ADA Certification... The response I got was it is apparently 'not' happening... Read what you want into this...  The particular sales rep is no longer with Blackbaud, so it's uncertain if this can be taken up with that rep by either us or Blackbaud even... ever... (But, my Foundation Department is not happy...)



However- I am not writing this to drag anyone through the mud (perhaps I should- not yet anyway... I'm still absorbing the impact of what we were just told... Seriously, think about this- This might be a barrier to our using OLX for the college at all)...



What I do want to point out is that ADA Compliance is the Law... 'All' Educational Institutions in the US are currently on deadlines for ADA Certification of their websites, and this means any Code related to generating Web information from Online Express Forms too...



One would think... If Blackbaud is not on track for this, they should probably make it a priority for their clients, as noncompliance can result in legal action, for the institution involved...  



Here is a little quote I just read, re compliance:



"Disregarding these regulations can result in legal action initiated by the DOJ or lawsuits initiated by private citizens. However DOJ standards differ from Section 508 regulations, which are an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and apply to all information technology, including computer hardware, software and documentation.



Who needs to follow these requirements?



The ADA standards apply to commercial and public entities that have “places of public accommodation” which includes the internet...", Underlines mine...



Again, anyone else run into this..?  Any experience relate; or guidance you can give us?



Thanks, in advance.

Jerry'O

 

Michele Stender

Hi Jerry'O -

Thanks so much for posting! I wanted to let you know that the OLX team is looking into this request. I will be in touch as soon as I can find some more information around the ADA compliance for you.

-Michele

Gerald Ollison

Thank you, Michele!



The ADA issue is a frustrating one for us right now. I do appreciate you are looking into it, and will let us know any information you will give us regarding Blackbaud's plans for OLX regarding this.  Our college's website is currently undergoing a re-design, and everything on it is ADA- period! No exceptions... Any language generated via OLX might have to be absent until Blackbaud gets on track with this issue...



I am certain we are not the only institution with this concern.



Again, thanks.

Jerry'O

Chris Martin

I wanted to provide an update and hopefully some clarification around Online Express and ADA compliance. As the Product Manager for Online Express, hopefully hearing (or reading) this directly will clear up some of the miscommunication.



To date, we haven't undergone formal ADA or other compliance certification testing for Online Express. However, we worked very hard during the development of our Online Express web forms to satisfy the recommendations set forth by the ADA. We have also done our own "self-assessment" at many steps along the way, including live functional testing with visually impaired users who rely on screen readers.



As a result, any finding that would have caused us to fail ADA compliance that we found, we addressed and at the moment, we don't have any significant known gaps or areas that would cause OLX web forms to fall short of the ADA recommendations. The forms have proper tab order, default color contrast, field labels, HTML attributes, etc.



While we are working towards formal certification (likely to WCAG standards), if you have specific compliance questions that we can help with in the interim, you can either message me directly, contact your account rep, or chat with our Support team and reference this thread.



Thanks!