by Connor Courtien, RDPFS Intern
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all federal government information and communication technologies remain accessible, explaining precisely what this covers. Timothy Creagan and Kathy Eng from the U.S. Access Board, as well as Michael Horton and Andrew Nielson from the General Services Administration (GSA), gave a comprehensive presentation at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in March. Here are highlights:
–Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Section 508 is defined as “Information technology and other equipment, systems, technologies, or processes, for which the principal function is the creation, manipulation, storage, display, receipt, or transmission of electronic data and information, as well as any associated content.” Some examples are computers, kiosks, websites, and digital documents. Everything in this category must be fully accessible.
-Creagan described a significant case in the D.C. Circuit Court, Jahinnslerth Orozco v. Merrick Garland, where Orozco, a blind employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), filed a complaint seeking injunctive action against the FBI for inaccessible software he had to use in his job duties. This was initially thrown out by the court. “It was a denial of his right to receive services,” said Creagan. Fortunately, Orozco successfully appealed under Section 508.
-“You simply can’t have diversity, equity and inclusion without accessibility,” said Nielson, discussing President Biden’s Executive Order 14035 on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce. This order didn’t offer anything beyond existing regulations, but “It did state the intent for the executive government to become a model employer for people with disabilities,” according to Nielsen.
-An ICT Testing Baseline for Web, available here, co-owned by the S. Access Board and GSA, covers procedures to make sure a website is Section 508 compliant. More baselines for other forms of ICT are in development.
-Discussing the identification of accessibility issues with Microsoft Teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, Eng said “We have a relationship with Microsoft where we’re able to connect with their essential developers and representatives to relay where all of these difficulties were. We shared user experiences, difficulties from the accessibility standpoint.” Eng also shared a resource, offered here, on considerations for accessible remote meetings by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
More details are covered in the full presentation on YouTube.
