508 Remediation and a 24 hr Live Help Desk
I will try to address what should be the first priority of 508 and that would be providing equal access to information. Anyone in the business of remediation knows that training a staff of Hundreds of thousands employees to make their content accessible to current 508 standards is a pipe dream. There are too many file types and not enough knowledgeable teachers. I would estimate just in Federal websites alone there ...more »
I will try to address what should be the first priority of 508 and that would be providing equal access to information. Anyone in the business of remediation knows that training a staff of Hundreds of thousands employees to make their content accessible to current 508 standards is a pipe dream. There are too many file types and not enough knowledgeable teachers. I would estimate just in Federal websites alone there are still millions of web pages that need to be remediated not to mention other file types posted on a web other than html. I would also estimate that greater than 25% of new pages and documents being published on Federal web are not compliant. The conundrum is when 508 compliance becomes a barrier to the publication of important information. My solution to this growing problem during a time where this is still an unfunded mandate is for the Federal government to put into place a 24 hour Live Help Desk manned by returning disabled veterans in a call center to help other disabled Americans with information that they have a problem with due to noncompliance, lack of proper tools (i.e. screen readers, brail readers, etc.) or just poor remediation. Even if this takes a call center agent reading a document to a visually impaired person, that person would be getting the help when and where they need it. This call center can extend the service to state and local governments for a fee as well as private sector business to pay for the majority of the effort with the rest coming in grants from the Fed. Stage two would be to offer these same services on web applications via remote access. With each call taken the workflow would include notifying the 508 coordinator or customer of the call so they could request remediation services on the document in question. This remediation service could also be provided by the Help Desk for a fee to assist in the funding of the project. Any overages in funding could be donated to Nonprofits that assist disabled Americans. This solution does not remove the requirement to comply with Section 508 it just provides:
1. Help needed on documents that are already out there when the help is needed.
2. Removes the barrier of postponing any publication due to Section 508 Compliance.
3. Provides the Content owners with priority requests of files that need to be remediated.
4. Lowers the total cost currently being spent by each Agency due to consolidation of services.
5. Improvements in quality of remediation.
Douglas Loo
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