Evaluating the Impact of WEA 2.0 Regulations on WEA Message Content Accessibility

Policy is ever-changing and evolving to address the needs of the population it serves. The conversation surrounding emergency preparedness often excludes vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities. Therefore, policies and regulations must address existing gaps with inclusive emergency communications. As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) re-examines and modifies regulations for the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA), it is invaluable to evaluate whether these regulatory policies have accomplished their intended effect to become more accessible and inclusive. Thus, this paper explores the impact of WEA 2.0 regulations implemented in December of 2019 on the accessibility of WEA message content and provides a comparative analysis on the accessibility of these messages before the regulation and after.