Federal Guidelines for IT and Web Site Accessibility
Section 508 Standards
The Federal guidelines for IT and web site accessibility can be found in the Section 508 standards, generally referred to as "Section 508." Signed into law by President Clinton on August 7, 1998, Section 508 is an amendment to the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that requires all electronic and information technology developed or purchased by Federal agencies to be accessible by people with disabilities. Section 508 does not directly apply to private sector web sites, public sites that are not U.S. Federal agency sites, Congress, the Judiciary, or agencies or establishments using Federal funds. However, the tremendous purchasing power of all of the Federal agencies combined has served as an enormous incentive for IT companies to build accessibility into their entire development process. As a result, IT industry vendors who understand and are able to implement government accessibility requirements are at a competitive advantage in the federal marketplace, which spends roughly $50 billion on IT per year.
The Impact of Section 508
The initial reaction to Section 508 was one of trepidation - many in industry struggled to understand the standards and were unsure how to change their company's web sites. People in government had concerns of their own, fearing lawsuits and administrative complaints if they did not interpret the standards accurately and purchase the best accessible products. Fortunately, such fears never materialized. The first successful large-scale conversion to accessible IT systems and web site applications was accomplished by the United States Postal Service, and industry and government have made considerable progress since. The anticipated drain on resources as a result of complying with Section 508 standards has not come to pass, primarily due to the assimilation of the design and purchase of accessible products into industry's business processes. Other positive developments from the passage of Section 508 include the fostering of strong working relationships between IT developers and assistive technology developers, and a sustained, fruitful collaboration between government officials, industry leaders, and the disability community. These developments have been key to the immense progress made in meeting accessibility requirements across the board.
Section 508, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Web
It is now a truism that the web should be accessible to all. Indeed, many would agree that access to the entertainment, services, and commerce on the web is a civil right just as is access to entertainment, services, and shopping in physical space.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that places of public accommodation and the services they provide be accessible to all; in 1996, the Justice Department issued a legal opinion that asserted the ADA applies to the web as well as bricks-and-mortar establishments. In 2004, New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer brought an action against Priceline and Ramada asserting that the inaccessibility of their web sites violated the ADA. The case was never brought to court, however, and Priceline and Ramada agreed to a settlement under which they assured the Attorney General they would make their web sites accessible. Two other cases of note include a suit brought against Southwest Airlines by a group of people with visual impairments, and a suit against the Target Corporation brought by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). In the first case, the plaintiffs argued that Southwest.com was a travel service and therefore subject to the ADA. While the case was dismissed, the Appellate judge recognized the significance of the legal questions raised by the suit. In the second case, the NFB argued that Target.com is inaccessible and therefore violates the ADA. After the judge assigned the lawsuit class-action status, the case was settled in August 2008, in which the court ruled that the California Disabled Rights Law applies to the web and ordered Target to pay $6 million into a fund from which Californians affected by its inaccessibility can claim.
