From Website to Council Chambers: Why Accessibility Is the Cornerstone of Resident Trust

What is Digital Accessibility?

Imagine trying to attend a public meeting livestream with no audio or captions. Or imagine logging onto a website and attempting to use your screen reader, only to find the form unreadable. For millions of Americans, these are daily realities.

Digital accessibility is the practice of designing websites, tools, and technologies so that people with disabilities can use them independently and effectively.

While most people are familiar with physical accessibility features like ramps or tactile crosswalk signals, digital accessibility applies the same principles to online environments.

Digital accessibility makes it so that:

• Visual digital content is readable for users with low vision or color blindness.
• Audio content includes captions or transcripts for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Navigation is intuitive and keyboard-friendly for users with motor impairments.
• Forms and documents are structured so that users with cognitive disabilities can complete tasks without confusion.

This is about compliance and creating equal access to public services, resident engagement, education, employment, and community life. Inaccessible digital platforms can exclude residents from participating in government processes, accessing vital information, or even attending public meetings.

As municipalities modernize their digital front doors, prioritizing accessibility helps build trust and makes it so every resident can engage fully with their local government.

Digital Accessibility Is a Leadership Signal

In today’s local government landscape, the quality of a municipality’s digital experience speaks volumes. Residents visit local government websites to complete tasks, but they also use them to assess transparency, responsiveness, and inclusivity. And when those experiences fall short, trust erodes. It sends the message: “This space wasn’t built for you.”

According to a joint CivicPlus and CivicPulse survey, 84% of municipal officials say website accessibility builds public trust. For municipal leaders, that statistic is a call to action. With 1 in 4 Americans living with a disability, and the DOJ’s 2024 rule requiring WCAG 2.1 AA compliance by 2026–2027, digital accessibility is foundational to equitable governance.

Accessibility Failures Undermine Engagement

Despite growing awareness, many municipal websites and meeting platforms still present barriers. These include PDFs that aren’t screen reader friendly, poor contrast that strains visibility, navigation that confuses rather than guides, and meeting recordings without captions. Such obstacles are more than technical oversights; they are missed opportunities to engage and include residents.

The metrics are telling:

• 54% of residents believe the quality of a municipality’s website reflects the quality of its leadership, underscoring the reputational impact of poor digital experiences.
• A study published in the Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology found that common obstacles for digital engagement include inaccessible layouts, lack of screen reader compatibility, and poor mobile responsiveness, especially for users with disabilities and non-English language speakers.
• 42% of local government officials cite “lack of staff time” as a significant barrier to improving web accessibility, revealing operational constraints that slow progress.
• When it comes to public meetings, barriers such as missing captioning, inaccessible platforms, and noncompliant agenda formats can prevent residents with disabilities from participating fully in civic life.

These numbers reveal a gap between intention and impact, and they point to a clear path forward.

Accessibility Starts with the Website and Extends to Meetings

Accessibility starts at the homepage and extends into the council chambers, where meeting agendas, recordings, and workflows must be just as inclusive.

Inclusive governance means working to support all residents so that they can engage with public meetings. CivicPlus Agenda and Meeting Management supports this mission with ADA-aligned agendas, real-time captioning, and intuitive workflows that make resident engagement easier and more equitable. And with a CivicPlus Municipal Websites supported with ongoing web accessibility tools, residents can stay engaged with more than meetings.

CivicPlus Agenda and Meeting Management and Web Accessibility

With ADA-aligned agendas and minutes, live and recorded meeting captioning, and streamlined workflows, our Agenda and Meeting Management solution helps improve accessible resident engagement while reducing staff effort. Additionally, our Web Accessibility solution offers ways to intelligently remediate webpages with expert fixes, improve overall website health and optimization, and remediate PDFs through AI-assisted software with the option to use a manual editor or request remediation services.

Together, Municipal Websites, Web Accessibility, and Agenda and Meeting Management create a seamless, inclusive experience from the first click to the final vote.

Trust Begins with Access

Local leaders are prioritizing accessibility as a way to build resident trust and increase community engagement. Before the announcement of federal funding rollbacks in 2024, 39% of residents had already planned to engage more with local government that year compared to the previous one. Remember, 84% of municipal officials say website accessibility builds public trust. Securing and maintaining that trust, however, depends on access.

And the stakes are high. Local leaders recognize the reputational impact of digital accessibility. 83% agree that ensuring accessible web content is the government’s responsibility. Despite growing awareness, many municipal websites still present barriers to usability and accessibility, especially for residents with disabilities.

The Path Forward Is Inclusive

Clerks, councils, and municipal staff are uniquely positioned to champion inclusive digital transformation. By investing in accessible websites and meeting platforms, they can build trust, improve satisfaction, and make it so that every resident has a seat at the table—online or in person.

Explore CivicPlus Web Accessibility and get a free sample scan.