Government

Your company has developed a great product which you plan to position for selling to the U.S. Federal Government. Your product is on the GSA schedule, and now you are ready to bid for government contracts, or expecting the purchase orders.

But have you thought about accessibility to people with disabilities? Do you know if your product is Section 508 compliant?

SHARM EL SHEIKH - On the third day of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting, November 17, 2009, in Sharm el-Sheikh, participants from government, the private sector, civil society and the Internet community tackled the key issues of access and diversity as well as Internet governance in the light of WSIS principles.  Parallel meetings held on Tuesday included 20 workshops, as well as "best practices forums", "dynamic coalitions", and other meetings.

When a redesigned Recovery.gov Web site was unveiled last month to track the distribution of stimulus dollars, it was touted as another example of the Obama administration’s push for greater transparency. But the technology and design of the site left one segment of the population less than satisfied.

Advocates for people with disabilities found a number of accessibility flaws on the site that jumbled the spending data or otherwise put it beyond the reach of people using screen readers and other assistive devices.

Let's examine the costs and benefits of Section 508 compliance. Before we start selling to the Federal Government or working on one of its development, it is worth looking into what will cost us, what's necessary, and what kinds of benefits can we expect when we want to bring our products to Section 508 compliance.

The Government 2.0 Taskforce, in conjunction with Media Access Australia, has launched a website makeover competition to highlight the need to improve the accessibility of government websites.

Webcredible has noticed that governmental types aren't all that bright when it comes to technology (Barack Obama and Al Gore excepted) and has developed a highly accessible content management system for those in power at all levels.

Governments still have far to go in improving levels of accessibility and making government Web sites easier to find if they want to increase the efficiency of e-government, according to a new draft report from independent research and policy institute Brookings.

And Web designers should consider making available, or improving, foreign language versions of their Web sites to ensure government is accessible to all citizens and to interested foreigners.

All new UK public sector websites must conform to at least ‘AA’ accessibility standards as specified by the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, according
to guidance published this month by the Cabinet Office.

Existing central government department websites must conform to ‘AA’ by December 2009 and all other government agencies and non- departmental bodies by
March 2011, according to the guidance.

The following directory contains a list of companies which provide a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) of their products. The links point to the page of the company's web sites where the VPATs are posted. All VPATs open in a new window.

Please note that we are not responsible for the content of the VPATs and their accessibility, we only provide space for companies to list their products.

Section 504 is the more commonly used term for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is a national law that defines the rights of persons with disabilities. Section 504 aims to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability.

Section 504 applies to institutions such as public schools, colleges, and organizations providing vocational programs. It covers public services and government agencies. Section 504 also covers employers as well as private schools and agencies that receive federal funding or support.