Staying Ahead of the Curve: Updates on Section 508 Accessibility Guidelines
What are Section 508 accessibility guidelines?
The United States Access Board is required under the Rehabilitation Act's Section 508 to create and publish Section 508 guidelines and to offer technical help on Section 508. As a result, to stay abreast of any modifications to the Section 508 accessibility standards and recommendations that the Access Board may release, you should always keep yourself informed.
To begin with, Section 508 mandates that all users, including those with disabilities, have access to information and communication technology (ICT) created, acquired, maintained, or used by federal entities. People with disabilities have access to electronic information and data thanks to the Section 508 accessibility guidelines, which are a component of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
An update on the Revised 508 Standards
In order to guarantee ICT is accessible and usable for people with disabilities, the Revised Section 508 accessibility requirements or standards are divided into 508 chapters. All federal organizations subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act must adhere to these guidelines.
The use of equivalent design or technology that results in substantially greater accessibility and usability for people with disabilities than would be offered by compliance with one or more requirements is authorized under the standards. In accordance with the guidelines, accessibility and usability for people with disabilities ought to be at least essentially similar and preferably greater.
Some of the major changes in the Revised Section 508 accessibility guidelines include focus on functionality in terms of their organization instead of product type so as to keep pace with advances in technology; industry alignment that incorporates the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 that clarifies the guidelines’ applicability to websites, electronic, and software; content accessibility that requires all public-facing official agency business content as well as specific categories of non-public-facing content that is official agency business to be accessible; synchronized tools and tech, which clarifies that software and operating systems must interoperate with assistive technology; and the expanded marketplace, which incorporates by reference, selected international standards like WCAG 2.0, and harmonizes with European Commission ICT Standards (EN 301 549), to create a larger marketplace of accessibility solutions.
Web accessibility standards 508
In comparison to the current Section 508 accessibility standards, the Section 508 WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria are more precise. The writing of the success criteria as objectively tested Section 508 accessibility requirements has received careful consideration. Additionally, WCAG 2.0 is written differently from the pre-existing 508 accessibility guidelines in that it is technology-neutral and hence immediately applicable to a variety of content kinds and formats.
There are 38 Level A and AA Success Criteria in the revised WCAG 2.0 Section 508 web accessibility requirements, 22 of which are worded differently but are conceptually identical to the original 508 accessibility standards. Content that complies with the most recent Section 508 requirements may not meet the sixteen new success criteria.
The WCAG success criteria and the Revised Section 508 standards both have the goal of making ICT accessible to individuals with impairments, which is interesting to note. The WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA are mentioned in the Revised Section 508 web accessibility standards.
Get regular updates on Section 508 accessibility guidelines
Always keep in mind that whatever you add to your website or other ICT product or service must adhere to the most recent online accessibility requirements set out by the 508 guidelines. Since most firms and organizations are too busy with their primary operations to have time to investigate the revisions to the standards, this necessitates awareness of any updates that the Access Board has made to the standards.
Smart businesses and organizations entrust the task of keeping in touch with any Section 508 updates to experts like ADACP. This ensures that they don’t just focus on the core mandate of their businesses but stay ahead of their peers in terms of knowing up-to-date information about changes to the Section 508 guidelines.
Call ADACP at (626) 486-2201 to set up a free consultation or to request a quick quote for the latest Section 508 web accessibility requirements if you want them to inform you about changes in the section 508 accessibility environment while you concentrate on your organization's or business's primary goals.