Transcript

Hi! I’m Peter Berg. I’m the University of Illinois-Chicago’s ADA Coordinator. I am blind, and I use a screen reader. A screen reader is assistive technology. It’s a program that allows me to access digital content. I cannot do my job if electronic digital information – websites, forms, databases – are not accessible to me. It shouldn’t take me twice as long, three times as long, four times as long, to find information on a website because the website is inaccessible.

Going to an inaccessible website, giving me a PDF document that is a scanned image, is the same as handing me a print document. I cannot see it. I cannot read it. You give me an inaccessible PDF, you give me an inaccessible website, I cannot read it, I cannot navigate it.

As a person with a disability, who is blind, being an advocate, you know, around the clock, becomes both physically and emotionally exhausting. And there are times where I get to a website, and I ask myself, “Is this something that I absolutely need to do? Am I going to invest the time and effort into letting these folks know that their website is not accessible?”

When it comes to state and local governments, you know, you are providing information to the public. Websites can and should be designed to be accessible. It makes them far more usable for everyone – for people with and without disabilities. It comes from the mindset that an organization – a state, a local government – is going to say from the top down: “We’re making our mobile applications, our digital content, accessible.”

When we are talking about, you know, the University of Illinois System, and we have always had obligations to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. And, come August 24, 2026, the University has an obligation to ensure that all of its digital content – websites, mobile applications, application online application processes, learning management systems, information materials that are used by student courses – they need to be accessible from the get-go. There are various agencies that have enforcement responsibility over the university – so there is this significant risk for not complying. We as a university, we have a couple of years to get this right. And if we don’t get it right, it’s no longer on our timeline. The resources are available. It’s allocating those resources and doing this because it’s the right thing and because there is substantial risk for not doing it.