[Accessibleweb] ADA Update - does it affect the Web

[Rick Ells]

Does anyone have any idea whether President Bush's proposed update of the 
American with Disabilities Act includes anything relating to information 
technologies? (http://www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/ADAnprm08.htm)

The proposal came out in late May and is now in the midst of its 60-day 
public comment period. After the comments are reviewed, the final rules 
will become law.

What puzzles me is that all descriptions of the contents of the proposal 
focus on physical facilities and the idea of a safe-harbor for small 
businesses (spending 1% of a company's gross in a year is sufficent,
even if it does not bring facilities up to the standards).

The "Proposed ADA Standards for Accessible Design" site 
(http://www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/ada_standards/proposedadastds.htm) does not 
seem to mention IT at all. Is the ADA specifically about physical 
facilities only?

I know that the federal guidelines are actually under Section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act and that the Access Board did a big two-year study on
updating the Section 508 stuff 
(http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/report/). Has any of that work 
actually changed anything?

I guess I am mostly wondering if there is any movement to actually 
updating (improving) legal standards for accessible IT.

   -----------------------------------
     Rick Ells
     Senior Webmaster
     UW Technology
     206.543.2875
     rells at u.washington.edu
     http://staff.washington.edu/rells