W3C guidelines and Section 508: International standards and U.S. law.

Different countries have their own various accessibility policies, however, the European Union and most other countries use the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as a standard. Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act requires that whenever the Federal Government maintains content on the web people with disabilities must have access to it. W3C Priority One checkpoints is the basis for this law.

Section 508 is often referred to in Adobe accessibility content as well. It is important for others workin in other countries that issues elaborated in section 508 are mostly similar to W3C Priority One issues. Despite the fact that there exist differences in between W3c Priority One and Section 508, especially regarding the manner of implementation, they share checkpoints with one another to a large extent.

Standards of Section 508 and the federal mandate.

Agencies of the federal government are disallowed by Section 508 from using, buying, developing, maintaining technology, whether information and electronic, that individuals with any disability cannot access. It was only in 1998 i.e. 14 years after Section 508 was passed, that the Workforce Investment Act came into effect which changed the law to the extent that it allowed ordinary citizens and employees of the government who have disabilities to sue those federal bodies in federal court as well to submit administrative complaints if they (agencies) did not comply.

Section 508 also set a date for the federal websites, which did not apply to private sector web pages), i.e. 21^st June, 2001. The law has a specific scope which directs all bodies or agencies of the federal government to ensure that they use, develop, maintain, procure, information and electronic technology in such a manner that it can be accessible for the public as well as employees. Section 508 as amended mandates that:

"…electronic and information technology allows Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency." Read the full regulation

Section 508 also requires that:

“…individuals with disabilities who are members of the public seeking information or services from a federal agency have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.” Read the full regulation.

The buying power of government agencies is also utilized by Section 508 to the benefit of people with disabilities by pressuring companies to make products that are accessible. Federal laws, including the Federal Acquisition Act, that are regarding agency buying will also include Section 508 in their text. Or, in other words, private companies won’t be able to sell their software to federal agencies if they don’t meet standards of accessibility.

For two years and more, agencies of the federal government have been cooperating to achieve the aim of making federal websites accessible. As a part of this effort, the Federal Access Board and the General Services Administration created the Federal Information Technology Accessibility Initiative (FITAI) to offer technical assistance and training coordination. His topic is further elucidated in FITIA’s website. The following information is FITIRA’s interpretation on the parts of Section 508 that pertain to web accessibility.