Department of Homeland Security Sued for Section 508 Violations

On April 26, 2013, Michael Leiterman, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  filed a suit against his employer, "for violating federal anti-discrimination laws that require the federal government to provide equal opportunity to people with disabilities", citing Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Section 508 is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act, passed by Congress in 1998. This amendment specifies that government agencies must make all electronic and information technology available to people with disabilities. Since its adoption in 1998, the digital realm has exploded, making Section 508 compliance even more necessary to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities.

The lawsuit alleges that DHS is in violation of the Act “by purchasing, developing, and implementing inaccessible technology, using inaccessible training and testing platforms and materials, requiring Mr. Leiterman to provide accessibility  testing, troubleshooting, and correction for CBP’s technology, failing to provide reasonable accommodations for his disability, and denying him a promotion because of his disability and the agency’s inaccessible technology.”

Mr. Leiterman, who is blind, has worked at Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”), a division of the United States Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), since August 2006. The lawsuit alleges multiple instances of violations, including inaccessible documents, intranets, and online training modules.

The brief...

Document Creators: Are you responsible for Section 508 compliance?

Let us be among the first to remind you to check the fine print in the specifications for the document you are creating right now. Is their any federal money involved? That's just one reason to make sure your document is accessible and compliant with Section 508.

These regulations have been in place since 1973, but are just beginning to be monitored and enforced; several lawsuits were required before production contracts started routinely specifying compliance with Section 508

Here's the official word:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 794d) requires the federal government to ensure that the electronic and information technology that it develops, procures, maintains, or uses is accessible to persons with disabilities. Section 508 also directs the Attorney General to submit reports to the President and Congress on the state of federal agencies' compliance with the Act's requirements. In preparation for its report, the Department of Justice conducts a survey of federal agencies to obtain information on the state of compliance with Section 508, including the Section 508 Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards

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Each federal department or agency is required by Section 508 to provide the Department of Justice with information that is needed to prepare the reports. Following below is information about the Department of Justice’s Section 508 surveys and reports.

Plan now and avoid the rush this fall- learn more about Section 508 document preparation and remediation at  Electronic Document Compliance Services website.

Work Directly With a 508 Document Specialist

Electronic Document Compliance Services clients work directly with our Section 508 document remediators, streamlining the process and reducing “middle-man” costs.

In addition to remediation of documents for section 508 compliance, EDCS can review your documents and provide  certification of 508 compliancy, guaranteeing accessibility and usabilty.

Passing automatic PDF and 508 checks is just the first step in our complete certification service; our federally-certified staff will test your documents with both automatic and manual procedures to assure they meet or exceed all 16 requirements of Section 508, and provide you with a certificate  and an affadavit affirming compliance.

If you want answers to your compliance questions and quick turnaround, call now and talk to a specialist: 919-410-7408

The "Curb Cut" shows how accessibility helps the entire population

Many people think that accessibility regulation just benefit those with disabilities (an estimated 24 million Americans!) but the value is much more broadly felt.

Accessibility offers advantages that go beyond ensuring usability for persons with disabilities. Many technologies first designed to assist persons with disabilities were later adopted because of their value to everyone. Consider the advantage curb cuts provide. Although first created for people in wheelchairs, they make access for cyclists and parents with strollers easier. Universal accessibility can help ensure that

everyone has access to the tools and information they need to learn and communicate.

Electronic documents are often evaluated for its usability and accessibility in order to be compliant with Section 508. Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference. Even if the document is "accessible", there may still be serious usability problems that make it equally difficult for any person, disabled or non-disabled, to use it.

Usability focuses on how intuitive and easy it is for all people to use. Usable designs are consistent and simple to learn to use. Usability and accessibility often go hand-in-hand.

Accessibility is determined by how barrier free the technology is. Accessibility problems are those that make it more difficult for persons with disabilities to use an application or service than for a non-disabled person.

The key to accessibility is that it should be easy for everyone to use, including persons with disabilities.

Overcoming Accessibility Challenges for Section 508 Compliance

This is based on an article from the National Center on Disability and Access to Education, describing how properly structured / tagged PDF documents can be made accessible and in compliance with Section 508, and the disability types that can be aided by the process:

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Accessibility challenge	Disability type(s)	Solution(s)
Only true headings and lists will convey semantic meaning to a screen reader user.	Blind	Tag all headings so they are true headings (H1, H2, etc. Tag all lists as ordered or unordered lists.
Images must include an alternative description (alt text) to be meaningful to a screen reader user.	Blind	Add Alternate Text to each document. Combine complex figures and provide Alternate Text.
Complex charts or tables may not contain proper headings, captions or summaries.	Blind	Tag table rows (<TR>), table headers (<TH>), and table data cells (<TD>). Set the scope of each table header cell (column or row)
Poor color contrast, especially in images and charts.	Color blind, Low vision	Ensure sufficient color contrast in text, charts and images. One way to verify this is to print out the document on a black and white printer.
Documents with forms that can be filled in on the screen (checkboxes, text fields, etc.) may not be accessible to screen reader users and may not export correctly to other formats.	Blind, all users	Make sure form elements have appropriate tags. Verify that the form can be completed using common screen readers.
A page may be read out of order by a screen reader. That is, the reading order and the visual order may be different.	Blind	Check and edit the reading order using Acrobat reading order tools Verify reading order with screen reader
Scanned PDF files that are not converted to plain text will not be accessible to screen reader users.	Blind	Convert a scanned PDF file into text using an Optical Character Recognition program.
A PDF reader program must be used to view PDF files.	All users	The Adobe Reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe site. There are a number of free reader programs that are available for several platforms. The accessibility features of these readers vary.
Embedded multimedia may be inaccessible, especially if it is not captioned.	Deaf, Blind	Make sure embedded multimedia is captioned. This is possible in a PDF file. If necessary, provide audio descriptions for the blind.
Scanned PDF files converted to real text can have numerous misspellings that may only be apparent to screen reader users.	Blind	Use a spell check to make sure as many words are spelled correctly as possible.
Headers, footers, logos and other content that meant to be ignored may be read by a screen reader on every page.	Blind	Convert extraneous information to an artifact If appropriate, make the first instance of repetitive information visible and convert subsequent versions into artifacts.

FAQ: What is the price per page to remediate a document and make it compliant with Section 508?

Every document is unique, and every client has different requirements, so there is no set cost per page to make a document compliant with Section 508 of the ADA. A 10 page document with numerous tables, charts and graphics may require more remediation than a 200 page mostly text document. Many of our clients have special compliance specifications– we are prepared to handle the most stringent requirements.

A typical job for a health insurance organization with 80-100 documents totaling 2000-3000 pages may be as low as $2 a page, depending on the state of the documents.  A typical single document remediation of 20 pages may cost between $2-20 per page.

We never quarrel with those who sell for less, as they know what their service is worth.  EDCS remediated documents are guaranteed accessible, not merely error-free according to an automatic check.

We will be glad to evaluate your documents, give you a report on their compliance needs and  a firm bid including turnaround time, please contact us for more information.

Tips for Document Creators: Alternate Text

Using best practices for creating accessible documents makes Section 508 compliance much less costly. Adding alternative text for images is the imperative, and needs to be done correctly:

By following the basic principles outlined here, web developers can make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities.

• Alternative text may be provided in the alt attribute or in the surrounding context of the image, but not both.
• Every image must have an alt attribute.
• Alternative text should:
  • presents the CONTENT and FUNCTION of the image.
  • be succinct.
• Alternative text should not:
  • be redundant (be the same as adjacent or body text).
  • use the phrases “image of…” or “graphic of…”.
• Appropriate alternative text depends heavily on the image’s context.
• Alt text of a functional image (e.g., an image within a link) should describe the function as well as the content.
• Decorative images still need an alt attribute, but it should be null (alt=”").

An indepth article on proper usage of the image alt tag can be found at the WebAim web site.

Find out more about Section 508 document compliance here: http://508compliantdocumentconversion.com/