| The federal Workforce Investment Act
of 1998 amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973. Under the amended Section 508, federal
departments or agencies that develop, procure, maintain,
or use "electronic and information technology" (EIT)
must ensure that the EIT allows federal employees with disabilities
to have access to and use of information and data that is
comparable to the access and use of information and data
by other federal employees.
The amended Section 508 also required that members of
the public with disabilities who seek information from
the federal departments or agencies must have access to
and use of information and data that is comparable to that
provided to the public without disabilities.
The 1998 amendment to the Rehabilitation Act: Section
508 (29 U.S.C. § 794d) Part 1194 Subpart § 1194.22
is entitled “Web-based intranet and internet information
and application. 16 rules.” The rules may be found
online at: http://www.section508.gov/final_text.html#Web.
A note to § 1194.22 references the W3C guidelines and
checklist for web document development. This information
can be found at
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/full-checklist.html.
According to the Note, web pages shall meet all priority
one checkpoints on the W3C checklist plus the additional
requirements imposed by the last four of the sixteen
rules outlined in this portion of Section 508.
Pursuant to the regulatory framework established by Section
508 as amended, the federal Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board published on December 21, 2000
standards (Accessibility Standards) to define EIT and the
technical and functional performance criteria necessary
for accessibility.
On April 25, 2001, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory
Council published final rules that amend the FARS to incorporate
the Accessibility Standards. The amended FARs ("Section
508 FARs") are effective as of June 25, 2001. More
in-depth discussion may be found under the appropriate
Subpart in the Final Rule document issued by the Architectural
and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board viewable at
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm.
This document was published in the Federal Register on December
21, 2000 and was effective February 20, 2001. The date for
compliance to the Final Rule was August 20, 2001.
The Section 508 FARs do not establish a common means of
assessing compliance with the Accessibility Standards.
The government's Section 508 web site at http://www.section508.gov,
however, does provide information on how to meet the Accessibility
Standards. |
