By Mac Clemmens, CEO, Streamline
Document Accessibility Strategies for PDFs to comply with HB21-1110 and the new DOJ requirements
Accessibility compliance is a daunting task for many government organizations, especially as new legislation like Colorado’s HB21-1110 increases the pressure on local agencies to ensure all digital content meets ADA standards. For many special districts, this new law has resulted in panic. The cost and time required to convert years of public records into fully accessible formats seem overwhelming.
At Streamline, we’ve been working closely with districts across the country to help them navigate this challenge. One thing we’ve learned from California’s experience with AB434 is that the knee-jerk reaction to simply remove documents from websites does more harm than good. Transparency and accessibility should go hand-in-hand, and with a little creativity, districts can prioritize the most impactful fixes without breaking their budgets.
The Scope of the Problem
Take Streamline’s 366 Colorado-based customers as of February 2024. Collectively, these districts hosted 27,179 PDFs across their websites, totaling 255,543 pages. Despite their best efforts, only 0.79% of these PDFs were fully accessible, as measured by CommonLook’s PDF scanner.
In the prior year alone, these PDFs had been visited 945,282 times. If every district had sent all of their inaccessible PDFs for remediation at the standard rate of $7 per page, the total cost would have been a staggering $1,774,801, or an average of $4,849 per district.
Faced with these figures, it’s easy to understand why many districts feel overwhelmed by the task at hand. However, we knew there had to be a better way to approach this issue.
A Data-Driven Approach to Accessibility
By working closely with disability rights advocacy groups, we discovered a critical insight: the focus should be on maximizing the percentage of document visits that are fully accessible, not necessarily the sheer number of PDFs remediated. With this in mind, we developed a strategy that helps districts prioritize the remediation of documents based on their actual use.
Here’s the thought experiment we conducted using the data:
- Filter for PDFs with 12 or fewer pages
These shorter documents are typically easier and cheaper to remediate. - Filter for PDFs that received 20 or more visits in the last year
Prioritize the most frequently accessed files, as these have a higher impact on user experience. - Remediate any PDF with more than 1,000 visits in the past year, regardless of length
Ensure that the most critical documents are accessible to all users.
By applying these criteria, we were able to reduce the number of PDF pages needing remediation by an impressive 87.84%. And while fewer documents were remediated, the percentage of document visits that became fully accessible skyrocketed to 74.38%. This solution brought the average remediation cost down to $590 per district—much more manageable for special districts operating on limited budgets.
A Path Forward for Colorado’s Special Districts
Of course, all documents will eventually need to be remediated to comply fully with ADA guidelines. But by using data to prioritize the most frequently accessed and impactful documents, districts can focus their resources where they’re needed most, ensuring that the majority of public-facing content is accessible in the short term.
To support this process, Streamline has developed a dashboard that allows website managers to track their documents, prioritize remediation, and ensure compliance with ADA laws. This tool has already helped districts across the state make smarter decisions about their accessibility efforts and build a roadmap for long-term compliance.
Ultimately, this approach not only balances the demands of transparency and accessibility but also ensures that the resources of Colorado’s special districts are used wisely.
About the Author
Mac Clemmens is an ADA expert and the CEO of Streamline Software, Inc., regularly speaks on ADA best practices, and has won numerous awards for his work on website accessibility for government organizations. Streamline is a proud member and sponsor of the Special Districts Association of Colorado.
