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Accessibility Related Articles

The following articles address different aspects of accessibility. The purpose of this section is to increase the awareness of accessibility, and to explain commonly encountered, but rarely discussed problems.

Important Questions for Your Accessibility Consultant

Asking your accessibility consultant the most important questions helps you a lot in managing your accessibility project. Through the consultant’s answers, you can plan out the next steps in making your web site accessible. It can also help you avoid or prepare for setbacks in the project.

Below we will discuss some of the most important questions you should ask your accessibility consultant. Having this list is useful when you are meeting your consultant for the first time.

Minimizing the Cost of Accessibility

Knowing about the costs involved in making a product or web site accessible is one of the best ways to ensure the success of this task. This helps you avoid unexpected financial issues that may hinder your project.

To assist you in becoming aware of the common expenses in an accessibility project, I’ve compiled some of the most important services you may need to acquire as you make your product or service accessible. This information should only serve as a set of examples and should not be treated as the only reference regarding accessibility-related expenses.

How to Properly Start Your Accessibility Project

I always talk to my clients after completing an accessibility project. And I often find that one of the challenges they face is the lack of a clear set of ideas at the beginning. Some have even considered closing the project due to this issue. Very often they know that they would like to make their project accessible, but there is very little information on how to get started.

But I believe that taking on an accessibility project is one of the best decisions you can make, and that you can deal with this issue by knowing a number of important points.

Below, I will discuss the factors you need to consider so that your project can have a good start. This article is for you if you are on the initial stages of making your web site, product, or service accessible. This is also for you if you are generally interested in accessibility and how it is achieved.

Section 504 Lawsuits

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a law that protects persons with disabilities against discrimination. When a covered institution violates this law, qualified individuals can file Section 504 lawsuits against the covered entity.

Below, we take a look at examples of Section 504 lawsuits and the settlements made by the groups and individuals involved.

What is the Americans with Disabilities Act?

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil rights law enacted by the US Congress. Signed into law in July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, the ADA prohibits, under specific circumstances, discrimination based on disability.

The ADA aims to help the country benefit from the skills and talents of persons with disabilities, allow all Americans to gain from the increased purchasing power of persons with disabilities, and advocate more productive lives for everyone.

This law was amended in 2008 (ADA Amendments Act of 2008). The changes took effect on January 1, 2009.

Prioritize Accessibility Tasks

When it comes to accessibility have you ever found yourself in the following situations?

  • You wanted to make your site accessible but you didn't have the money
  • You just finished a web site or application and then found out that it is not accessible or Section 508 compliant
  • You thought a site was accessible and you found out that it really wasn't
  • You were told that your web application needs to be Section 508 compliant by a certain date and you didn't have the time to fix it

These are all valid issues, and you are not the only one facing them. But once this is the case, it does not mean that you need to forget about accessibility as it is. There is another way to go around it, and not only to make your site accessible or to bring it to legal compliance, but to show your commitment and willingness to work on it.

Think About Accessibility Before You Start Developing Your Web Site or Web Application

Have you ever found out that your web site or web application is not Section 508 compliant after you put all that work into it? Even worse, have you been given a short ultimatum to fix it?

At this point, there's nothing else you can do in order for legal compliance, but fix it. But there are lessons learned you can use in your next project. Consider accessibility before you start building your site.

Is Accessibility Overwhelming?

Have you tried to print out all the WCAG documentation? You probably got worried after several hundreds of pages when your printer didn't stop producing more guidelines and techniques.

Have you experienced planning to make something accessible and then finding out that the required tasks overwhelm you? This can indeed be very intimidating, and it could make you doubt that you could follow the guidelines. so you in turn postpone your plans and you may even cancel them.

But does it have to be this way? Is there a way to make a product, service or web site accessible and not be overwhelmed by the tasks?

Indeed there is, and it’s quite simple. So let us analyze a seemingly “intimidating” obstacle faced by many people in making their product, service, or web site accessible. By the end of this post, I assure you that you’d have a clearer idea about this issue.

ADA Web Site Compliance

An important step in making your web site accessible is to understand the laws regarding accessibility. However, most people often interchange the two major accessibility standards in the United States: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508.

It is true that both of these standards focus on accessibility. But they are two entirely different things. ADA is a federal law made in 1990, while Section 508 is only a component of a law known as the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973. To further differentiate these two accessibility standards, we provide a definition of Section 508 in one of our previous posts.

Now that we have distinguished these two accessibility standards, let us focus on the ADA and what it says about web accessibility. We’ll also point out the benefits you would get from ADA web site compliance.

Section 508 Compliance: What's in It for Me?

When you hear about Section 508 compliance, especially when you have to be compliant on your own dime, you may think that this is just one of those requirements that your company has to pay big bucks for. Maybe you even thought about checking the box, and see what you can get away with if you don't worry about it. Maybe you thought that you are paying, and others are benefiting. In this article, I would like to show where your company can majorly benefit from Section 508 compliance.