This week, the Healey-Driscoll administration announced a plan aimed squarely at that problem. The Massachusetts Digital Accessibility and Equity Strategic Plan is a statewide governance effort designed to make sure that government websites, online services and digital tools are usable by people of all abilities. Released through the Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board, the plan applies across all executive branch agencies.
Essentially, the framework defines digital accessibility as “the practice of designing, building and procuring digital resources free from barriers that block access for people with disabilities,” and is organized around six major goals. Those include setting up clear governance and funding for accessibility work, creating a statewide framework for risk and compliance, and improving how the state procures technology products. It also focuses on training employees to incorporate accessibility into their daily work and designing digital services that are accessible from the outset, rather than patching problems after the fact.
The plan itself grew out of work that began in July 2023, when Gov. Maura Healey signed Executive Order 614 on the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That order directed the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security to develop and advance a statewide approach to digital accessibility.
For Gov. Healey, it’s simply about making government usable for everyone. That, according to the news release, led her to create the Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board and bring on the state’s first chief information technology accessibility officer (CIAO) as part of Executive Order 614. In the announcement, the governor said that she’s “grateful to CIAO Ashley Bloom and her team for issuing [the] developing plan and helping us build a more accessible and inclusive digital government.”
Putting the plan and strategy into action falls to Bloom and her office, which has set up an enterprise Accessibility Center for Consulting, Education and Support Services — known as the ACCESS team. The group coordinates across state agencies to provide guidance and training, while also helping the state meet ADA Title II digital accessibility standards. The team will be focused on helping agencies bring accessibility into everyday workflows, including when they’re working with older systems not originally built with accessibility in mind.
Bloom, who was appointed back in 2024, described the plan as a step that “serves as the foundation to continue the development of accessibility program initiatives” and provides guidance for the state as it moves forward on its “accessibility journey for the commonwealth.”
