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Prepare for Web Accessibility Before the Government Forces Your Hand
CIO - In 1998, the U.S. Government updated Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, requiring federal agencies to make electronic communications accessible to disabled employees and members of the public. Standards created to comply with Section 508 list specific requirements that organizations must meet. Subpart B deals specifically with websites and lists 16 individual requirements.Section 508 applies only to U.S. Government bureaus, agencies, and organizations. State and local governments and businesses are under no obligation to comply. However, a flurry of lawsuits filed by advocates for the disabled make it clear that current business exemptions from accessibility requirements can't go on forever. Filers on these cases assert that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to the Web since it's a public "space." Businesses should thus be required to make their "space" on the Internet just as accessible as they must make their physical spaces. Recent high-profile settlements involved Target, which paid $6 million in damages and made its website fully accessible, and Netflix, which agreed to provide closed captioning for all streaming movies by 2014. Posted by: Au Auric 2013-09-12 |
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