November 25, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, the Council voted to pass Intro. 163-2024, legislation authored by Council Member Eric Dinowitz, requiring City agencies to adopt uniform accessibility guidelines so that all printed materials meet consistent standards citywide. This includes documents posted online for residents to print, materials emailed directly to New Yorkers, and those physically distributed by City agencies. This local law will take effect 180 days after it becomes law.

The new guidelines – developed and published by the Mayor or the Mayor’s designee – establish official accessibility standards for printed public-facing materials in New York City. These standards address formatting, visual appearance, and readability, including elements such as font size, serif usage, and color contrast. This issue affects a meaningful share of our city’s population:  

According to a 2022 study by the State Department of Health, 1.6% of adults aged 25–55 in NYC have a vision disability. Statewide data shows that 3.5 million New Yorkers over age 40 live with a visual impairment. Additionally, the NYC Department of Education reports that roughly 1,500 students across 133 schools were assessed for risk of dyslexia in the 2023 school year, and 4.4% of NYC older adults report having serious vision impairments. These figures highlight the urgent need for our City to better serve residents with disabilities across all age groups.

Council Member Dinowitz introduced the bill in February 2024. It was heard by the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction on October 23, where the Mayor’s administration expressed support, emphasizing the urgent need for standardized, accessible print materials across City government. With today’s vote, the bill has now passed both the committee and the full Council and heads to the Mayor’s desk for signature. 

“All New Yorkers deserve access to vital information and documents,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz. “Too often, however, our documents are inaccessible to those with visual impairments, including people with disabilities and many older adults. With this legislation, we are ensuring equal access to critical government-issued, public information for everyone. This legislation will help millions of New Yorkers receive the clear, usable, and comprehensible information they depend on and deserve.”

“Our City has a moral obligation to ensure that our services and resources are available to all,” said Council Member Linda Lee, Chair of the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction. “As we continue to fulfill our promise of accessibility, I am proud to co-sponsor Int. 163, which will ensure that all City documents meet clear and consistent readability standards. I’m grateful to Council Member Dinowitz for his leadership on this vital issue.”

“Accessible information is essential for living with independence and dignity,” said AARP State Director of AARP New York Beth Finkel. “By passing this legislation to establish accessibility guidelines for printed documents, the City Council can take an important step to ensure that every New Yorker, including older adults and people with vision challenges, can fully understand and use the information their government provides. We thank Council Member Eric Dinowitz for prioritizing accessibility and helping make New York a more age-friendly and equitable city.”

“The Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY) supports reading access for all people regardless of their ability to read printed text with or without screen reading technology,” said Executive Director of CIDNY Sharon McLennon Wier, Ph.D., MSEd., CRC, LMHC. “This legislation allows for accessibility guidelines to be utilized for all citywide printed documents. This ensures that users with disabilities can access critical information regardless of whether or not they have internet access.”

“Council Member Dinowitz has been a close friend of the disability community since before he took office,” said President of the 504 Democratic Club Mike Schweinsburg. “Since taking office, he has introduced a great many bills beneficial to the disability community and this one is one of his more common sense measures, but one that only a champion would recognize as being necessary and vital. People with disabilities deserve access to anything and everything and this bill will provide accessibility in all written documents for which we say, thank you kindly.”

“For many older adults, navigating public information that’s too small, hard to read, or inconsistently formatted can create real barriers to participation in community life,” said Riverdale Senior Services’ Center for Ageless Living Director Tina M. Cardoza-Izquierdo. “Standardized print accessibility isn’t just a design issue, it is a matter of equity. This legislation ensures that every resident, regardless of age or visual ability, has equal access to the information that shapes their health, their safety, and their daily decisions.” 

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