[Accessibleweb] AccessibleWeb@U: Notes from Thursday, April 29 Meeting

[Richard B. Ells]

                       AccessibleWeb at U - April 29, 2010
                                       
   Speaker: Terrill Thompson, Technology Accessibility Specialist, UW-IT
   
   Topic: Reviewing [1]proposed updates in the Section 508 guidelines and
   standards (http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm)

     Please take a look at Terry's notes on the new draft at
       http://staff.washington.edu/tft/508.html
     Post your comments on the accessibleweb at uw.edu email list.

  Notes (URLS are at the bottom)

     * Section 508 is an amendment in 1998 to the Rehabilitation Act
          + Requires access to electronic and information provided by the
            Federal government
          + Standards were written by the Access Board to clarify what it
            meant, published in Federal Register on December 21, 2000
               o http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/standards.html
               o Clear, consistent, rule expressed language
               o Web accessibility included
                    # Informed by the WCAG priority 1 checkpoints
                    # 16 standards statements
                    # Very HTML-centric
               o Comparing with WCAG guidelines
                    # [2]Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
                    # [3]Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG)
                    # [4]User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG)
               o WCAG 2.0 has [5]supporting documents
                    # Techniques for WCAG 2.0
                    # How to Meet WCAG 2.0
                    # Understanding WCAG 2.0
                    # The WCAG 2.0 Documents
          + Does 508 apply to us?
               o 508 as written applies explicitly to federal agencies
               o [6]State Guidelines - Accessibility to Information
                 Technology for Individuals With Disabilities -
                 http://isb.wa.gov/policies/1000g.doc (Word)
                    # Adopted by ISB, May 2005
                    # Says it applies to educational institutions
                    # Adopts Section 508 standards + WCAG 2.0 for Web
          + We are required to provide accessible programs and services
            for other reasons
               o [7]Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
               o [8]Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
               o Section 508 is a standard written into law that might be
                 used by courts as a gauge of current practice
               o The UW does recognize that being sued over accessibility
                 is a potential risk for the university
               o [9]Section 255 of Telecom Act of 1996
                    # Requires telecommunications equipment manufacturers
                      and service providers to make their products and
                      services accessible
     * The refresh of 508 guidelines and standards
          + Access Board assembled the Telecommunications and Electronic
            and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) to
            update 508 and 255 standards and guidlines
          + TEITAC recommendations presented April 2008
          + Accepting public comment through June 21, 2010
          + More info at www.access-board.gov/508.htm
     * [10]Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards &
       Guidelines
          + Reviewing chapter organization, it is not clear which are the
            operative parts and which are explanatory
          + Hard to extract the standards from the text and translate it
            to how it would apply to what we are doing
          + Significantly changed how it is organized - original version
            was much easier to point to specific rules
          + Level of detail is higher but consistency of editing is worse
          + Numbering and organization takes getting use to; some items
            are recursive, lowest levels referring to higher levels
          + Advisory content boxes help explain rules and give many
            examples, but sometimes occur before the rules they explain
          + Each of the two introductory chapters (one for ICT and one
            for telecommunications and VoIP) have detailed glossaries
     * [11]Section E107: Harmonization with W3C Guidelines
          + Section E107 states that goal is harmonization with WCAG 2.0
          + If web pages meets WCAG 2.0 then they comply, as long as they
            also conform with 409, 413, 606.4, 604.5, 607, 608
               o user platform preferences (409)
               o authoring tool standards ( 413)
               o real-time video description (604.4 and 604.5)
               o user controls for captions and video descritption (607)
               o user controls to adjust foreground and background sound
                 independently (608) - not widely supported at this time
          + Authoring Tool and User Agent guidelines are integrated
            throughout, but ATAG and UAAG are not explicitly referenced
            (both are under revision at W3C)
     * [12]Section E108: Best Meets
          + Odd title, an example of occasionally creative language use
            in the document
          + "agency must produce the product that best meets the
            provisions of this part, consistent with the business needs
            of the agency"
          + Essentially an exception or loophole
     * What can we do?
          + Terry is working on a [13]First Impressions of ICT
            Accessibility Standards and Guidelines statement that he
            hopes to submit as a comment on the draft guidelines before
            June. Please review his statement and post any comments to
            the AccessibleWeb at U email list.
          + With few exceptions, we could just focus on WCAG 2.0 since
            it seems better documented, at least so far

References

   1. http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm
   2. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
   3. http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-AUTOOLS/
   4. http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-USERAGENT/
   5. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#intro-related-docs
   6. http://isb.wa.gov/policies/1000g.doc
   7. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/understanding/disability/
   8. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/understanding/disability/
   9. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/section255.html
  10. http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm
  11. http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm#e107
  12. http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm#e108
  13. http://staff.washington.edu/tft/508.html

The notes are also published on the AccessWebU blog at
  http://accesswebu.blogspot.com/


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