If your emergency evacuation order is published as a flat image graphic with no alternative text, a resident who relies on a screen reader in the direct flood path will never hear it.
That is not an abstract compliance edge case. It is an immediate life safety failure happening across local government digital channels every single day.
In municipal and county offices, accessibility is too often discussed like an administrative tax. Legal teams issue warnings about updating Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Leadership schedules compliance audits. Teams worry about retrofitting decade-old web archives or getting dragged into costly litigation.
Framing accessibility as a legal hurdle misses the core mission of public communication.<
