Section508 Management Strategy Improve Capabilities

... because responsibility for accessibility, at some level, applies to all people working in federal government. There are lots of other trainings that are mandatory -- EEO or Civil Rights, Information Security, etc. -- across the various agencies and this might be approached in a similar way.

Optimize 508 administrative services across the Federal Government by 1) Benchmark interagency Best Practices and Lessons Learned to support refinement of existing 508 processes and policy and development of a new Department-wide 508 Strategic Plan 2) Determine feasibility of a Shared Services Cost-Savings Model where one agency provides Braille and other services for a fee such as the existing Federal Occupation Health... more »

Add Functional Performance Criteria (FPC) for people with cognitive disabilities. Currently, there are no standards or provisions in Section 508 related to individuals with cognitive disabilities. Additionally, consider functional performance criteria for persons with multiple disabilities such as a person who is deaf or blind who has cerebral palsy or a speech impairment with possible limited manual dexterity.

By one count there are 22 federal entities that have some accessibility oversight role. In 508-land, the big ones are the Access Board, GSA, DoJ, CIO Council, and FAR and the Chief Acquisition Officer Council. But the FCC, Dept. of Education, Dept. of Labor, National Council on Disability, NIST, Department of Transportation and many others have parallel roles in their own domains. Why not astound the public and make a... more »

Should government strengthen and build on the Section508.gov site to develop a Web Portal of accessibility resources geared primarily towards core Developers, but with essential resources for the more extended development community? Could the creation of a joint public and private sector central repository of information and online community better support the development community? Would this increase equal access... more »

Should the Federal government enhance the Section 508.gov website into a robust Web Portal by collaborating with the IT industry to centralize expertise to provide education, testing tools, and professional development? What else could this portal provide?

There's no way that regulations can keep up with the pace of technological evolution. How about identifying those Technical Provisions whose impact has most eroded, and accelerating their updates via some more agile process than the typical rulemaking? The process should be open, and could result not in new regulatory language but in authoritative guidance. For example, it could state the the current provision, especially... more »

Section 508 requires agencies to select the product that best meets the Section 508 standards, but the FAR does not buttress the concept. A strategic plan that pledges to include “best meets” in the FAR would be welcomed. Recently case law stated that the FAR supersedes the “best meets” concept in Section 508 (an over simplification of a complicated decision but at its heart true).

Currently, it seems like each region within GSA is responsible for procuring their own closed captioning services for videos. We are seeing an ever increasing trend towards creating videos in-house. Many people who create this online content may not know how to go about having their videos captioned. It would make sense to have 1 contract nationwide where anyone who creates video content for their agency can easily obtain... more »

How can we eliminate waste of Federal resources used to retrofit ICT? People with disabilities are left behind when the Federal government does not adopt accessible ICT technology or implement the Section 508 Standards. If government doesn’t adopt and implement accessibility as part of its overall IT strategic planning, including: IT Modernization planning; Consolidation efforts; Shared services planning; adoption... more »

Accessibility is a problem, which the Federal government has not fully dealt with in terms of making technology accessible to employees and more importantly making technology accessible to the American public. Technology is both a problem and an answer. Accessibility is not just a good thing to do, it's the right thing to do. With more and more
countries adopting policies similiar to Section 508, making a product... more »

We are sitting on top of a mountain of government data. One way to get the most out of this underutilized asset is through interactive data visualizations. Another way is through the use of static information graphics (info graphics).

As far as I know, there is no federal standard for the implementation of these tools as they relate to Section 508. And that is holding back innovation.

Is it enough to just link to a... more »

As someone who is mobility impaired and has difficulty using a keyboard, I have a real issue with Section 508. By requiring sites to be accessible only if a user has a screen reader in their computer, to many people with disabilities are excluded. Section 508 is the equivalent of saying if you bring your own ramp to my restaurant, you will be able to get in. I'm glad the DOJ is finally recognizing that it is more than... 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... more »

For best practice, even for equipment that is grandfathered in, a certain length of time it is reasonable to review the accessibility of that equipment and to look for alternatives that are more accessible.

Comment from Accessibility Committee virtual Listening Session, Sep 8, 2011