How does your local government comply with the BDTO?
Written by Frits Karskens
The Government Digital Accessibility Decree (BDTO) is more than just an obligation; it is about inclusivity. Municipalities, water boards, and provinces must ensure that their websites and apps are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. But how do you go about this? We will explore this in more detail in this blog.
"Webmaster, could you check this website for accessibility? It's going live next week. I don't think it's a big issue, though, because we don't have that many blind people in the municipality, right?"
We recently heard this statement—and unfortunately, it's not the first time. It painfully highlights that digital accessibility is often not a priority, even though we know that communication and web teams are doing their utmost to achieve it. With dozens of websites (often more than 40!), it can be challenging to maintain an overview, especially when some websites are launched outside the view of internal experts. How can the government effectively address the BDTO?
What is the BDTO and why is it important?
The Government Digital Accessibility Decree (BDTO) requires government websites to be accessible in accordance with the WCAG 2.1 guidelines (levels A and AA). This means adding alt text to images, subtitling videos, and optimizing your website for screen readers. Accessibility is crucial because your website is often the first point of contact for citizens. An inaccessible site means that part of the population misses out on important information. This is not only a matter of legal compliance, but also of providing equal opportunities for everyone.
Collaboration between teams for a complete picture
Accessibility is not an isolated issue. If you view each theme in silos, you will not get a complete picture of how good your digital services really are. Therefore, involve different teams such as CISO, functional management, and communication. Collaboration prevents you from looking only at the individual components and helps you to be effective in your digital services. The web team can even take on a supervisory role for other teams in this regard. This would not only be relevant for the management team, but would also help to create more support from the management team.
Practical steps for implementation
- Preparing an accessibility statement: Government agencies must offer an accessible version of their website or app and publish an official statement about this. This statement must indicate the extent to which the website or app complies with the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and what measures are being taken to correct any non-compliance.
- Regular evaluation and monitoring: website accessibility must be assessed every 3 years (once every 3 years). This can be done using both manual tests and automated tools, but a combination of both is required. Tools such as Lighthouse are useful, but cannot detect all accessibility issues. Manual checks by experts in the field of digital accessibility are therefore essential.
- Progress reporting: the BDTO requires government agencies to report on the progress of their accessibility improvements. This must be transparent and form part of the accessibility statement.
- Action plan for improvement: if the website is not yet fully accessible, a concrete action plan must be drawn up indicating the steps that will be taken to improve this, including a timeline.
From overview to implementation: working together towards a sustainable approach
It is important to structurally embed digital accessibility in your work processes and policy. This means that accessibility plays a standard role in every new release and new content. In addition, establish a rhythm for monitoring and management, depending on the priority of the website (for example, a main website requires more attention than a niche website, such as that of a local swimming pool).
Accountability and continuous improvement
In addition to technical implementation, accountability is essential. You must report regularly on accessibility to both regulators and citizens. Through collaboration between disciplines, you gain a broader picture of how effective you are in providing digital services.
Did you know that accessibility only determines a small part of your website's quality? It comprises only 3 of the minimum 12 quality components. So make sure you embed accessibility in your policy, but also look further afield to optimize your digital services.
Keep your knowledge up to date
Stay up to date with the latest developments and continue to improve where necessary. There are many tools and communities that can help you with this. For example, join the Shift2 community to exchange knowledge and experiences with specialists and colleagues from other government agencies.
