The First U.S. Web Accessibility Agreement was Signed Twenty Years Ago this Week
Posted on March 7, 2020
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This post celebrates the 20th anniversary of the very first web accessibility agreement in the United States. The agreement was signed by Bank of America, the California Council of the Blind and six blind bank customers. The bank agreed to make its online banking system work for disabled customers.
The standard was the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0, adopted in May 1999. The bank also installed Talking ATMs blind people could use without help. It also gave bank statements in braille.
There was no lawsuit filed against the bank. Instead of fighting, lawyers used Structured Negotiation. It helps people solve problems with cooperation. Lainey Feingold was one of the lawyers for the blind community. Bank of America is still a leader in accessible services.
Twenty years ago this week (on March 14, 2000) Bank of America became the first company in the United States to sign an agreement to make its website accessible to people with disabilities. The agreement referenced the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 at a time when the standard was less than one year old. (WCAG had its own 20th [...]