The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, and is now more than 30 years old. Generations of people have since grown up, attended college, and entered the workforce with the expectation that accommodations exist to allow them to fully participate in mainstream life. As an example, NASBA’s CPA Examination Services has seen steady increases in the number of individuals requesting special accommodations who are taking (and passing) the Uniform CPA Examination. These people are future clients of CPE sponsors and of the National Registry (Registry).  

The Registry team is reviewing its website, NASBAregistry.org, and informational materials to determine current accessibility for people with disabilities. Materials, where needed, will be updated to be more inclusive of as many people as possible. As a leader in the area of continuing education, the Registry team wants to ensure adequate access to information regarding the Statement on Standards of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) and the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. It is vital to be inclusive and ensure all potential CPAs and CPE sponsors have access to important information that helps them reach their full potential as individuals.   

The process of transforming materials and courses can be overwhelming. The Registry team has taken inspiration from a recent eSummit keynote speaker, Disability Rights Lawyer, Lainey Feingold, who suggests that people start by taking baby steps. Feingold says to pick one user experience, whether it be website colors, the registration process, or a continuing professional education course. Remediate the barriers on this one experience to make it inclusive of all individuals and then move to the next baby step.   

What steps has the Registry taken? Closed captioning for the presentations during the 2021 National Registry eSummit were offered. Videos of the eSummit are available online and the recordings include the captioning as well. In addition, all the videos on the National Registry website have been updated to include captioning.    

Furthermore, the documents available on NASBAregistry.org (PDF, Excel, etc.) are being reviewed to ensure they are accessible to a wide audience. Some forms, depending on content and layout, may take longer to update than others, and the process will be ongoing.  

Other steps include the review of the National Registry website. While NASBAregistry.org and the CPE Monitor newsletter images have included alternative text for screen readers for several years, there has been a renewed focus on making this alternate text more descriptive and as accurate as possible. Steps are also being taken to see what additional features might be tweaked to improve the experience of people with disabilities. 

Throughout the process, information will be made available on the Resources page on NASBAregistry.org to share information and organizations that have helped the National Registry with accessibility. More information about this page will be shared when it becomes available. If you have any access needs or have noted something that could be improved, please reach out to the Registry team at cpe@nasba.org. For more information regarding the requirements for digital accessibility, visit ADA.gov.