What an accessibility line on a notice should say
An accessibility line on a meeting notice should tell people four things: that accommodations and alternate formats are available, who to contact, how to reach that person by more than one method, and how far ahead to ask. It should be short, plain and on every agenda and notice, not only on the website.
The duty behind it is effective communication. Under the ADA, a town must make communication with people with disabilities as effective as communication with others:
(1) A public entity shall take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with applicants, participants, members of the public, and companions with disabilities are as effective as communications with others.
The same section says aids and services “must be provided in accessible formats, in a timely manner, and in such a way as to protect the privacy and independence of the individual with a disability” (28 CFR 35.160(b)(2)). A notice line is how people learn to ask.
How far in advance to ask
How far in advance to ask should match how long the aid actually takes to arrange. Booking a sign language interpreter or captioner may take days; printing a large-print agenda may take minutes. The Justice Department lets you ask for reasonable notice, but not more than you need.
Covered entities may require reasonable advance notice from people requesting aids or services, based on the length of time needed to acquire the aid or service, but may not impose excessive advance notice requirements.
The same page says walk-in requests “must also be honored to the extent possible.” So a good notice asks for a lead time and also says late requests will be met when they can be. The lead time in the samples below is a blank for you to fill in based on your own experience.
Give more than one way to reach you
Giving more than one way to reach you matters because no single channel works for everyone. A phone number alone shuts out some deaf callers; an email address alone shuts out people without internet access. List at least two, such as phone and email, and add relay 711.
Colorado’s rule for technology accessibility statements sets this pattern in writing:
The notice shall provide more than one contact method, which could include an accessible form to submit feedback, an email address, or a toll-free phone number (with TTY), to contact personnel knowledgeable about the accessibility of the ICT.
Relay 711 costs you nothing. The Justice Department calls it “the free nationwide telecommunications relay service (TRS), reached by calling 7-1-1” (ADA.gov, Effective Communication). In Colorado, Relay Colorado says to dial 711. Our statement generator uses the same two-method pattern for your website.
Three samples to copy
The three samples below cover the most common places a clerk needs this wording: a short line for every agenda, a fuller paragraph for public hearing notices, and a line for posted documents and packets. Replace the bracketed parts with your own details, and keep the wording plain. None of them is legal advice.
Sample 1: a short line for every agenda
Accommodations and alternate formats are available on request. Contact [Name, Title] at [phone] (relay 711) or [email] at least [lead time] before the meeting. We will try to meet later requests too.
Sample 2: a fuller paragraph for a public hearing notice
The [Town of Name] welcomes everyone to this public hearing. If you need an accommodation to take part, such as a sign language interpreter, captioning, an assistive listening device, or this notice in large print or another format, please contact [Name, Title] by phone at [phone], by relay at 711, by email at [email], or in person at [office address]. Please ask at least [lead time] before the hearing so we can arrange it. We will do our best to meet requests made after that.
Sample 3: a line for posted documents and packets
If any document on this page, including agenda packet attachments, is hard to read with your screen reader or other technology, contact [Name, Title] at [phone] (relay 711) or [email]. Tell us which document you need, and we will provide it in a format that works for you as quickly as we can.
Post the notice as text or a tagged PDF
Posting the notice as text on a web page is the simplest way to make it readable, because a well-built page with real headings works with screen readers by default. If your office posts notices as PDFs, save them from Word as tagged PDFs with real text, a title and a language set.
What to avoid is the scanned notice: a signed page run through the copier and posted as an image. It has no text a screen reader can find. Post the typed version and keep the signed original in your records. Our guide on making an agenda PDF accessible walks through the Word steps, including the language setting described in W3C technique PDF16. Check posted notices with our PDF checker.
Who answers the requests
Who answers the requests should be decided before the notice goes out. Name a real person or office that can book an interpreter, produce a large-print agenda or send an accessible file. For towns with 50 or more employees, the ADA also requires a named coordinator and a published grievance procedure.
(b) Complaint procedure. A public entity that employs 50 or more persons shall adopt and publish grievance procedures providing for prompt and equitable resolution of complaints alleging any action that would be prohibited by this part.
Section 35.107(a) also asks those towns to make the coordinator’s name, office address and telephone number available to all interested people. Smaller towns benefit from naming a contact anyway. Log each request and answer with its dates; our guide to keeping an accessibility record explains why.
A worked example: a planning commission hearing
A worked example: a hypothetical town’s planning commission schedules a hearing on a rezoning. The deputy clerk drafts the notice in Word, adds Sample 2 with her own name, phone, relay 711 and email, and fills in the lead time the town has found it needs to book an interpreter.
She saves the notice as a tagged PDF, checks it, and posts it next to a text version on the town’s hearings page. Sample 1 goes at the bottom of the commission’s agenda, and Sample 3 goes on the packet page. Two days before the hearing, a resident emails asking for the site plan in a format a screen reader can use. The clerk sends a text description the same day and notes the request and the reply in the town’s log.
What we do about it
What we do about it is look after the documents behind your notices. Each month we find the agendas, packets, minutes and notices your office posted, fix the ones a screen reader cannot read, have a person check every file, and keep a dated Readable Record. See how it works or run a free check.
This guide explains the rule in plain language. It is not legal advice. For decisions about your town, talk to your attorney.
Questions
What should accessible meeting notice language include?
Accessible meeting notice language should say that accommodations and alternate formats are available, name who to contact, give at least two ways to reach them, such as phone and email, mention relay 711 for callers who are deaf or hard of hearing, and ask for requests a reasonable time before the meeting while still welcoming late ones.
How far in advance can we ask for accommodation requests?
You can ask for accommodation requests reasonably in advance. The Justice Department's effective communication guidance says covered entities may require reasonable advance notice, based on the time needed to get the aid or service, but may not impose excessive advance notice requirements. Late requests should still be honored to the extent possible, so say you will try.
What is relay 711 and why put it on a notice?
Relay 711 is the free nationwide telecommunications relay service. A caller who is deaf, hard of hearing or has a speech disability dials 7-1-1, and a communications assistant relays the call between text and voice. Putting 711 next to your phone number tells those callers they can reach your office the same way as everyone else.
Do Colorado rules require more than one contact method?
Yes. Colorado rule 11.6 says a public entity's technology accessibility statement must include a notice on how to request accommodations or report inaccessible technology, and that notice must provide more than one contact method, such as an accessible form, an email address or a toll-free phone number with TTY. Meeting notices can follow the same pattern.
Should we post meeting notices as PDFs or web text?
Posting meeting notices as web text is the simplest accessible option, because a web page with real headings is readable by default. If you post a PDF, make it a tagged PDF with real text, a title and a language, not a scan. A scanned notice with no text layer gives a screen reader nothing to read.
Sources
- 28 CFR 35.160, Communications, general (eCFR)
- 28 CFR 35.107, Designation of responsible employee and adoption of grievance procedures (eCFR)
- ADA Requirements: Effective Communication (ADA.gov)
- ADA Update: A Primer for State and Local Governments (ADA.gov)
- 8 CCR 1501-11, Rules Establishing Technology Accessibility Standards (Colorado Secretary of State)
- Relay Colorado, how to connect (Hamilton Relay)
- PDF16: Setting the default language using the Lang entry (W3C)