The City of Portsmouth, VA is leading the way in digital services for citizens. How did the City meet and exceed regulatory requirements related to the accessibility of online services for citizens of all abilities?

Like many forward-looking local government organizations, the City of Portsmouth relies on the CivicPlus platform—a leading third-party solution and AudioEye partner—to host, maintain and manage its online content.

“Using the CivicPlus platform and the CivicEngage content management solution empowers our departments to publish their own content, which frees IT specialists to focus on developing value-added services,” comments Daniel Jones. “In partnership with CivicPlus, we explored the best way to meet and exceed the accessibility requirements of Title III and Section 508.”

After a thorough review of several accessibility solutions, the City of Portsmouth selected AudioEye Managed. Combining both automated and human-led back-end scanning for potential code and content issues with a proven front-end Toolbar, the AudioEye solution offers an end-to-end approach to digital accessibility.

“When CivicPlus showed us the AudioEye solution, we immediately recognized its potential to transform the digital experience for users with disabilities,” recalls Daniel Jones. “Crucially, the AudioEye solution is continually scanning our websites, which enables CivicPlus to rapidly detect and remediate potential accessibility issues. What also struck us was how effective the AudioEye Accessibility Toolbar is for enhancing usability. Using the Toolbar, users can dynamically change the presentation of the website, including changing font, text color and contrast settings.”

From day one of signing up with AudioEye, the City of Portsmouth was protected from legal action and rapidly improving its accessibility. Shortly after, the City had successfully deployed the AudioEye Toolbar to all four of its digital properties. After full implementation, the City attained full AudioEye Trusted Certification—detailing and validating its commitment to digital inclusion and its conformance with principles of inclusive design and the related laws, mandates and guidelines.

“We are constantly adding new content and new subsites, which means accessibility is always going to be a moving target,” continues Daniel Jones. “To help ensure that we’re achieving our accessibility objectives, we’ve assigned and trained content managers in each department. By educating our people on the best practices for publishing web content, we’re making accessibility a fundamental part of our working culture.”

As the U.S. website continues to maximize conformance to the WCAG, the consumer electronics company is compliant with the required contractor web accessibility standards for state and federal agencies, enabling it to continue to work with government agencies and significantly reduce its risk of website accessibility litigation. “With WCAG conformity, our site is accessible for people using industry-standard assistive technologies such as the JAWS® screen reader,” says the spokesperson.

“And as the regulatory standards are updated, AudioEye updates its processes to stay ahead of any changes, so that we don’t need to have that competence in-house.”

The spokesperson adds, “Working with AudioEye enabled us to achieve compliance faster and more cost effectively than we thought possible. And as we move forward, AudioEye maintains our compliance without slowing down the launch of new site content or requiring us to shift priorities from other projects. We can focus on our business with peace of mind, knowing we have an expert watching our back.”