Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams called on the state government today to make its COVID-19 websites, including those used for booking vaccination appointments, accessible for visually impaired individuals. The websites have not been optimized for use with screen readers, which provide visually impaired individuals with technological access. Roughly 3.5 million New Yorkers over the age of 40 live with visual impairments.

In a letter to State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the Public Advocate said that 81 of the 94 state webpages offering information and providers of the vaccine feature technological barriers, and that "New registration sites suffer from low-contrast coloring, supplemental electronic forms that must be filled out, and minimal text options such as having to find a vaccination site on a map versus textually listed locations... The lack of vision accessibility creates the potential for significant disparities in our efforts to vaccinate the population."

He also noted the legal obligation to be accessible under the ADA, and called for the state to begin "working in tandem with disability advocates to redesign websites to ensure their compatibility with screen reader software, adding higher contrast coloring, and offering text only lists of vaccine information and providers as opposed to maps that are incompatible with screen reader technology."

The Public Advocate introduced city legislation in 2020 aimed at expanding, updating and enforcing digital accessibility for New York City agencies, and has previously highlighted additional technological barriers with vaccination websites.

The full letter to the Commissioner is below, and can be downloaded here.

Dear Commissioner Zucker:

I write to you today concerning the lack of accessibility that people with vision impairment are experiencing with websites containing information and resources regarding the COVID-19 vaccination. Websites intended for booking COVID-19 vaccination appointments are not optimized for use with commonly used screen readers that give technological access to those with vision impairments. New registration sites suffer from low-contrast coloring, supplemental electronic forms that must be filled out, and minimal text options such as having to find a vaccination site on a map versus textually listed locations. Recent surveys found technological barriers on 81 of the 94 state websites offering information and providers of the vaccine.

About 3.5 million New Yorkers over the age of 40 live with visual impairments. The lack of vision accessibility creates the potential for significant disparities in our efforts to vaccinate the population. It is critical we make all efforts to adhere to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or we run the risk of leaving vision-impaired New Yorkers behind in the fight against this pandemic.

All New York City and State websites offering resources on the COVID-19 vaccine must adhere to the Americans With Disabilities Act by establishing accessibility to those with visual impairments. This can be achieved by working in tandem with disability advocates to redesign websites to ensure their compatibility with screen reader software, adding higher contrast coloring, and offering text only lists of vaccine information and providers as opposed to maps that are incompatible with screen reader technology.

I look forward to receiving a timely response from your agency. For further discussion, please contact First Deputy Public Advocate Nick E. Smith at nsmith@advocate.nyc.gov and Deputy Public Advocate for Justice, Health Equity & Safety Rama Issa-Ibrahim at rissa-ibrahim@advocate.nyc.gov. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jumaane D. Williams

Public Advocate for the City of New York

"Chag Kasher V'Sameach, a happy and Kosher holiday, to all in the Jewish community  celebrating as Passover begins tomorrow evening.

"As we are set to begin the second commemoration of Passover since the onset of the pandemic, I want to remind everyone that the danger has not passed. The public health crisis that has gripped our city and the globe is not over. I urge all to celebrate safely, in our homes and with our immediate families. I know that however each person honors this holy time in their home, it will be deeply meaningful.

"In celebrating Passover, in observing sacred traditions, we hear a story of the Israelites coming through a prolonged period of suffering, hardship, and deep pain. I know that these feelings resonate today, over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and I know too that we will come through it. That in the spirit of Passover,  any obstacle can be overcome - with hope and resolve in equal measure. United and committed to one another even while apart, we await the miracle of redemption - ever progressing, moving forward, pursuing deliverance from our bonds and our trauma.

"I wish a peaceful, reflective, and safe Passover to all, and look to a future when we can once again gather in celebration next year. Chag Sameach."

"This deal is the result of not months, but years of work by legislators, and years more by advocates. Now, it appears that we may finally overcome the well-documented reluctance of the Governor and the disingenuous opposition from people and industries who benefit from the criminalization of communities of more color. As we await the final bill language, the legalization agreement as described reflects a commitment to addressing and undoing that harm by investing revenue from the new industry into the communities disproportionately impacted by decades of disparate policing, and expunging the records of those whose lives were ruined by a marijuana-related conviction.

"With the final budget deadline looming, this is not a time to relax or back down. We must continue to push to ensure that when the final passage is complete, and as the law is implemented, marijuana legalization means true marijuana justice."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today urged city and state leadership to pause the impending reopenings currently planned for April, in order to slow the spread and help New York win the race between COVID-19 vaccines and variants. During a press conference on the issue held this morning with City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine and renowned epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder, Public Advocate Williams said:

"Right now, New York is in a race between vaccines and variants. It's neck and neck. And rushing to reopen, getting ahead of ourselves, will only help the virus get ahead of us in that race. In this moment, when the majority of new cases of COVID-19 in New York City come from highly contagious variants and only 14% of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, we need to continue to scale up vaccination while scaling back these reopenings. 

"We've been behind throughout the pandemic, forced to be reactive and responsive, but we know what works, and we can win this race if we stay the course rather than declare premature victory. New Yorkers can do their part by getting vaccinated when eligible and adhering to health guidelines. Government can do theirs by keeping those guidelines in place, providing financial incentives to reduce the economic pain of restrictions, and averting the even greater pain that would come if viral spread led to even further shutdowns. I ask the Governor to stick to the science, trust the experts, and pause the planned reopenings now, before they take effect and more are infected."

Presently, several key reopenings are set to occur  in New York in the first week of April. On April 1, stadiums and large outdoor venues will be able to open to 20% capacity, and on the 2nd, art and entertainment venues can open to 33%. Curfews are set to be lifted on casinos, movie theaters, bowling alleys, billiards halls, and gyms and fitness centers on April 5.

Video of this morning's virtual press conference is available here.

"A comprehensive review of structural inequities and injustices is as critical as it is overdue, and I am hopeful that today's announcement will lead to not only reforming systems, but upending them. Commissions and task forces have mixed results, but are ultimately as strong or effective as they are empowered to be. I have great confidence in many of the individual members selected, and anticipation of the ideas they produce over the next several months. 

"Dismantling systems of structural racism is, clearly, an immense mandate, and as I commend the intention behind creating this commission, I look ahead to its potential recommendations and the courage it will take to enact them- particularly when there are only nine months left in this administration. No matter who the next Mayor is, I intend to be here to make sure that strong, equity-driven proposals are carried out.

"I also continue to believe that we need a codified task force centered on truth and reconciliation in racial injustice, one that lasts beyond one year or administration, and I continue to pursue legislation to that effect."

"I applaud the state legislators who have voted to HALT solitary, and extend my gratitude and congratulations to the advocates who have worked for years to bring us to this moment. I call on Governor Cuomo to immediately sign this legislation, despite his past refusal to enact similar reforms through executive authority.

"Solitary confinement is torture, and while this bill does not abolish it entirely, it will end prolonged solitary confinement and create more humane and effective alternatives, while still allowing true medical isolation. This year more than ever, New Yorkers should be empathetic to the negative physical and mental health impacts of social isolation, and the need to end it in our jails and prisons. Today marks a victory that will do real good for incarcerated individuals, a milestone in the movement to fundamentally shift our systems of injustice. 

"Now that HALT has passed on the state level, it becomes even more pressing to completely end solitary here in New York City - but the plan put forth this month by the Mayor toward this goal ignores or weakens several key recommendations from advocacy organizations long engaged in this work. While we push to revise and reshape this plan ahead of any potential implementation, it is also critical to amend and advance the pending Council legislation to abolish solitary confinement. We have a moral obligation to end solitary - which is torture for all and a death sentence for Layleen Polanco, Nicholas Feliciano, Kalief Browder, and too many others. And we have a governing obligation to end it not just in name, but in practice."