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February 26, 2026 13 mins

Alex and Amy are joined this week by NASCIO policy analyst Kalea Young-Gibson. We discuss vendor accountability, litigation trends and how states can reduce legal and operational risk as the DOJ final rule for accessibility of web content and mobil apps approaches.

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Amy Glasscock (00:05):
Hi, and welcome to NASCIO Voices, where we talk
all things state IT.
I'm Amy Glasscock in Lexington,Kentucky.

Alex Whitaker (00:11):
And I'm Alex Whitaker in Washington, D.C.,
where we have finally dug out ofsome of the snow from the last
two weeks.
Today we're talking all aboutaccessibility deadlines,
publications, and litigationwith our very own NASCIO policy
analyst, Kalea Young Gibson.

Amy Glasscock (00:24):
Kalea, welcome back to the podcast.

Kalea Young-Gibson (00:25):
Happy to be here as always.

Amy Glasscock (00:27):
We're happy to have you too.
All right, so first of all,give us just sort of a you know
brief overview what's new whenit comes to accessibility in
NASCIO World.

Kalea Young-Gibson (00:37):
So lots, actually.
So last December, about 30state accessibility officers
came together in Lexitan,Kentucky for NASCIO's first ever
accessibility officer summit.
This was a major milestone forthe community and a signal that
accessibility is becoming a corepart of enterprise IT
strategies.
That summit focused on issuesthat states are wrestling with

(01:00):
the most, such as procurementexpectations, AI and
accessibility, privacyintersections, vendor
accountability, and thepractical realities of just
scaling accessibility acrosssuch large and complex
environments.
These sessions were led by ourwonderful IT accessibility
working group, and the feedbackwas clear.

(01:22):
States want more guidance onhow to build and maintain
statewide accessibility programsthat fit their actual IT
environments.
So that feedback actuallydirectly shaped what will I
think be NASCIO's newestpublication when it comes out,
hopefully within the next monthor so.
It'll be a resource that looksat how accessibility policy

(01:42):
moves through the six IToperating structure buckets used
across state government.
So instead of assuming everystate has the same levers, this
publication will show how policyflows, where it gets stuck, and
which strategies will work bestdepending on whether a state is
decentralized, federated,consolidated, or fully unified.

(02:04):
It also emphasizes somethingthat came up repeatedly at the
summit, which is the importanceof the accessibility officer and
the CIO partnership.
That partnership is the throughline.
No matter the operatingstructure, that partnership is
what determines whetheraccessibility becomes an
enterprise priority or staysfragmented.

Amy Glasscock (02:25):
Awesome.
Love that.
That sounds very useful.
Look forward to learning aboutall of that.
All right.
So when it comes to digitalaccessibility, where does vendor
accountability really begin andend for states?

Kalea Young-Gibson (02:38):
So especially with um the DOJ final
rule, we've been exploring thatquestion a lot more in depth.
Um and when it comes tovendors, the big message is that
accessibility can't besomething states just hope a
vendor handles.
It has to be something that thevendor proves.
Throughout our other umaccessibility works at NASCIO,

(03:01):
uh we've tried to make it reallyclear that states are still on
the hook under the DOJ finalrule for the accessibility of
anything the public uses, evenif the vendor built it.
So the way that I frame it isvendors can absolutely help you
meet your goals, but they cannotcarry your liability.
Um so that means states needcontracts up front that require

(03:25):
real testing, real evidence,real timelines, real corrective
plans, um, not just, you know, aVPAT and a handshake over a
drink.

Amy Glasscock (03:34):
Right, right.
Great.

Alex Whitaker (03:35):
Yeah.
Um so tell us about what'sgoing on around accessibility
litigation uh and how can statesuse what's happening in the
courts now to get ahead of riskinstead of just being reactive
to it.

Kalea Young-Gibson (03:46):
Yeah, and so that's something that uh NASCIO
is going to continue to diginto this year.
But from what we've seen sofar, um the lawsuits that we're
seeing, they aren't mysterious,right?
There's nothing really new.
There aren't really any brandnew trends of the sources of
these lawsuits.
Um they're showing up in thesame places that states already
know are the most vulnerable,which is going to be your

(04:08):
websites, mobile apps, PDFs,everyone's best friend, right?
And just different forms andarchive documents.
Um, and honestly, most of theseissues are preventable.
What the trends tell us is thataccessibility problems usually
come from a lack of oversight,not a lack of intent.
Um, a lot of times there's justso many moving parts in in an

(04:33):
enterprise, um, and they're socomplex, like it is much more
likely that it just wasn'tcaught due to the sheer volume,
and in some cases, the the lackof manpower that they have to
actually, you know, look throughthese things, not a lack of
intent.
So states can use that data tofocus on the highest risk areas
first, a strategy that we'vealready seen a couple states use

(04:54):
as they are going towards DOJfinal rule compliance and use
that to kind of build routines,regular testing, structured
reviews, periodic meetings withagency heads just to you know
keep things from slippingthrough the cracks.

Alex Whitaker (05:06):
Yeah, that sounds really awesome.
So when it comes to kind of thenuts and bolts and breaking
down what the steps are to sortof do what you're saying about
to check, you know, oversightand that kind of thing.
Um, what can a state really doon a day-to-day basis?

Kalea Young-Gibson (05:19):
Um, and I feel like this is going to be
reiterating a point that we'vemade since the start of our
accessibility work.
Um, but again, it it goeswithout saying the most
effective risk reduction happensbefore anything goes live.
That means procurement languagethat's specific, not vague,
testing that's independent, notself-attested, and vendor

(05:40):
oversight that is ongoing andbuilding those vendor
relationships, not just aone-and-done kind of touch
point.
Um, we've talked a lot abouthow expensive remediation is,
and that is honestly like theheart of it at the end of the
day.
States will save money andavoid complaints when
accessibility is treated as aquality standard from day one,

(06:01):
not a cleanup project later on.
Got it.

Amy Glasscock (06:04):
So I can imagine that some folks at states, as
the you know, compliancedeadlines are getting closer,
might start getting a littlenervous, wondering if they're
going to be ready.
What should state leaders focuson first?

Kalea Young-Gibson (06:17):
So that first deadline is about two
months away, um, April 24th,2026.
And the smartest thing thatstates can do, it's honestly
just continuing what a lot ofstates have been doing, which is
focusing on the levers thatmove the entire enterprise,
right?
So again, procurement, testingcapacity, and vendor remediation
planning, getting in the door,talking to your vendors early

(06:40):
and frequently.
You don't have to fixeverything at once.
Um, you just need a clear,defensible plan that shows
you're prioritizing high-impactsystems and holding vendors to
the same expectations that youhold your internal teams to.
Um, and to add on top of that,creating some sort of plan to

(07:00):
deal with the unknowns.
Um, I predict that there aregoing to be a lot of cases where
complaints are filed and theagency lead or the state CIO,
again, like I said earlier, justdid not notice that because of
the sheer volume of everythingthat is, you know, passing in
front of these people.
So having a kind of proactiveplan, like, okay, this is the

(07:24):
template we're going to followwhen we encounter this unknown,
because it's not an if, it's ait's a win, most likely.

Alex Whitaker (07:30):
Yeah.
So kind of when it comes tothe, you know, looking at the
whole life cycle cycle processand and and doing what you're
you're saying about starting atthe beginning.
Um, you know, when it comes toeverything from RFP to contract
management, how should statesreally be embedding
accessibility and enforcing it?

Kalea Young-Gibson (07:47):
So the biggest shift that states can
make is again evaluatingaccessibility before a contract
is signed, asking vendors toshow you their product works
with assistive tech, gettingpeople in the room, especially
stakeholder groups and peoplewith disabilities in the room
for demonstrations wherepossible, asking for testing
result logs to show that theservice has been repeatedly

(08:09):
tested and issues were addressedwhere needed, and asking what
you know other roadmap lookslike.
So, for example, if you'replanning an update to this
technology within the next fewyears, what does that
accessibility roadmap look likeand things of that nature?
Once they're selected, keepaccessibility in the
conversation.
Again, checkpoints,documentation, and clear
accountability.

(08:30):
It is also imperative that thestate tech leaders also open
that door.
So let's say if the state techleader gets a complaint about
the service, contact that vendorimmediately and let them know
that so they can also startlooking at things on their end.
The systems that cause the mosttrouble, authentication forms,

(08:50):
anything that the public has tocomplete, those should get the
most scrutiny.
Anything that's going to bepublic-facing and is vital to a
digital citizen service shouldbe under the most scrutiny.
And just remember thatoversight is not about being
mean or being punitive.
It's just about making surethat the state gets what they
paid for and the citizen getsthe most efficient service that

(09:13):
they can get.

Amy Glasscock (09:14):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much for allof this.
I think this was a really goodquick overview kind of of you
know what states can be thinkingabout right now as deadline
gets closer.
So definitely gonna besomething our members are
following a lot this year,especially in April.
So um of course we will not andcannot let you go just yet
until you answer a few questionsabout life outside of work in

(09:37):
the lightning round.

Alex Whitaker (09:40):
Absolutely.
Yay! All right, so Kalea,number one, if we looked at your
camera roll right now, whatwould we see the most of?

Kalea Young-Gibson (09:48):
Um, probably wrestling memes and cat videos.

Alex Whitaker (09:52):
Nice.
Okay.
And your cats, right?

Kalea Young-Gibson (09:54):
Yes, my cat.
Well, some of the TikTok catshave made it into my my camera
role as well.
They're they're cute as well.

Alex Whitaker (10:01):
Got it.

Amy Glasscock (10:02):
Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'm getting
a lot of AI cats in my socialmedia feed.

Kalea Young-Gibson (10:06):
Yeah, no, that's kind of creepy.
Like real cats only, please.

Alex Whitaker (10:09):
Until I saw, I didn't realize those were AI
until I saw the dog drive awayfrom the DUI stuff.
And then I realized, oh, it'sAI is getting into my algorithm.

Amy Glasscock (10:19):
There's one that keeps popping up my daughter and
I watch called Moolala and Pip,and it's like a cat mom and cat
kitten, and they both wearoveralls and do like comfort
food cooking in their cabin.
And every now and then Moolalaputs on a dress if like a boy
cat comes over, which is theonly way I knew it was a girl.
So anyway, they have some goodrecipes.

(10:41):
But anyway.
Uh next question.
If you had a free Saturday withno responsibilities, how would
you spend it?

Kalea Young-Gibson (10:48):
Hmm.
So I would definitely sleep in.
Um I would have to find a way,of course, to ignore my my cat's
8 a.m.
breakfast alarm.
So I would definitely find away to do that and sleep in.
And then I've been wanting totake my cats on more walks now
that it's starting to warm up alittle bit.

(11:08):
Um, so I would actually takethem on a walk um and come back
and actually make it through myentire to-do list.

Amy Glasscock (11:18):
No responsibilities.
You don't have to do your to-dolist.

Kalea Young-Gibson (11:21):
Oh, no responsibilities.

Amy Glasscock (11:22):
That is right.
Okay, hard, right?
Oh, I wouldpaint walls or something.

Kalea Young-Gibson (11:27):
Then to change my answer after I take
the cats on the walk, I'm goingback to sleep.

Amy Glasscock (11:31):
Yay.
Okay.
I know.
I thought about that too, and Iwas like, what do you mean?
Like, no responsibilities.
Yeah, like just do things thatare fun?

Kalea Young-Gibson (11:38):
Like if I have free time, free time, I
need to do things that I didn'tdo last week.

Amy Glasscock (11:42):
I'm the same way, yes.

Alex Whitaker (11:44):
Alright.
And what is one small everydayritual that keeps you grounded
and sane?

Kalea Young-Gibson (11:49):
I would say my evening cup of tea, and there
is um a fake news YouTubechannel I watch.
It's just like happy, likefunny pop culture things in a in
a news parody segment.
Um, so just sitting down with awarm cup of tea and turning
that on, that's how I know I'mabout to wind down for bed.

Amy Glasscock (12:11):
Sounds fun.
Yeah.
I'd say it's probably notgetting your cat into a harness
to go on a walk.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
No, definitely not at night. Not at night

Alex Whitaker (12:17):
All right.
Well, that's it for today.
Kalea, thanks again for comingback.
I think we've you are you arereally gonna hold the record
soon for the number of NASCIOappearances.
I'm looking forward to this runit up.
Uh but thank you for giving usan update on all things
accessibility.
We really appreciate it.
Absolutely.
Thanks, y'all, for having me.

Amy Glasscock (12:36):
Thanks, Kalea.
Thanks again for listening toNASCIO Voices.
NASCIO Voices is a productionof the National Association of
State CIOs.
Learn more at NASCIO.org.

Alex Whitaker (12:46):
NASCIO has a bunch of new publications coming
out in the coming weeks, sokeep your eyes peeled for those.
But in the meantime, share thispodcast with a colleague.

Amy Glasscock (12:54):
We'll be back soon with more great state IT
content.
Bye.
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