Jonathan Lazar

Special for USA TODAY

In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a standard view of how we would interact with a personal computer: we were sitting at a desk, with a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse.

Today, computing is very different. We still use desktops, but we also have laptops, tablet computers, smart phones, and some of us even have wearable computers such as the Apple Watch.

And that "we" includes people with disabilities, who are a part of this rich, flexible world of computing but access it differently.

For example, people who have motor impairments (such as Parkinson’s Disease) may not be able to use a standard pointing device such as a mouse or touch screen, or may need an alternate keyboard.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing need captioning for video, or transcripts of audio. People who are blind need a Web page to have appropriate markup, such as text describing the images (such as the shopping cart icon on a retail website), and appropriate labels on forms (e.g. “first name”, “last name”, “city”), so that they can listen to the Web page using a screen reader such as VoiceOver, JAWS, Window-Eyes, or NVDA.

Having the same level of interaction, the same ease of use, the same access to content, is a form of innovation. It's also a civil right.

Planes, classes, jobs

Think about how many of our daily transactions, communications, and interactions occur on the Internet.

Booking a flight? You book it online where the fares are the lowest. So what happens if you can't access an airline's web site? You might be charged a higher fare or charged a call center fee simply because you have a disability. Sound far-fetched? My research demonstrates that people with disabilities do often pay higher fares, although new regulations from the U.S. Department of Transportation will soon require all airline web sites to be accessible.

Enrolling in college? You might not be able to register online or buy textbooks at the beginning of the semester the way other students do. When professors post course-related content on the web, it may not be accessible to you.

What about applying for a job? Most companies now require you to submit the application on the web site or use an online jobs tool, but sometimes neither is accessible to people with disabilities. That forces you to ask for an accommodation before you can even apply for a job!

All of these barriers are erected by fellow human beings, and they are erected needlessly. All technologies can be made accessible for people with disabilities. We have existing technical guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which is an international technical standard, employed by governments around the world. We have WCAG2ICT, which helps in implementing WCAG concepts in non-web technologies such as software applications and operating systems. We have inclusive design processes available that can help ensure that people with disabilities are involved throughout the entire development process. We have evaluation methods such as usability testing, expert inspections, and automated testing.

Making accessibility a reality for people with disabilities is not an act of charity. It makes economic sense. It improves the lives of everyone.

Closed captioning

Many of the technologies that are widely used by the general public started out as innovations to allow equal access to technology for people with disabilities. The captioning in videos that is used by the general public in bars, gyms and airports, was created in the 1970s to allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to have equal access to TV shows and movies. The book e-reader devices and e-books so beloved by the general public started out in the late 1980s as "computerized books" to provide access to printed materials for blind users. The voice recognition on your phones and in your cars? That was an innovation to provide access to technology for people with motor impairments, who might be unable to utilize keyboards or pointing devices.

Standing in the way of this kind of innovation: ineffective public policy.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires accessibility for all technology used in federal government, both for employees and for the general public, and the regulatory process, which was slow, is expected to result in an updated final rule later this year. But the regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which apply much more broadly outside of the federal government, have been progressing at a glacial pace.

Facebook taps artificial intelligence for users with disabilities

The U.S. Department of Justice has said since 1996 that the ADA requirements under Title II (for state and local government, as well as public schools and universities) and Title III (for public accommodations such as stores, hotels, museums, private educational institutions, and many other covered entities) not only apply to buildings and physical spaces; they also apply to web sites. Some court rulings have also confirmed the applicability of the ADA to websites and other digital technologies.

Yet we are at a roadblock. The Title II regulatory process just took a step backwards, and the Title III regulatory process hasn’t moved an inch since 2010.

A coalition of disability advocacy groups recently sent letters to the White House, encouraging the regulatory process to move forward.

Among the organizations signing the letter? Microsoft. Companies such as Microsoft want the regulations to proceed, because it helps the organizations understand their responsibilities under the law.

Universities, in related court proceedings, have also indicated that they are eagerly waiting for the regulations to come out.

It's time to put pressure on policy makers to take action.

Denying equal access relegates people with disabilities to second-class status in society and deprives them of an equal shot at economic success and independence. People with disabilities cannot meaningfully participate in twenty-first-century society without access to technology, any more than any one else can. That's why accessibility is such an urgent matter of public policy.

Jonathan Lazar is a Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson University, lead author of the book “Ensuring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy” and recipient of the 2016 Social Impact Award from the field of human-computer interaction. He contributed this column to USA TODAY.