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Re: 508 update? when?

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Sep 27, 2012 1:28PM

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 1:14 PM, Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
< <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Pretty amazing that discussion of revisions have been under discussion and process now since 2006!
>
> in 2006, the Access Board began the process to update the Section 508 EIT Accessibility Standards by establishing an advisory committee.

It's particularly frustrating for those of us who were on that
committee and spent 2 years working on relevant and up-to-date
standards. There have been some nice improvements from our initial
recommendations (particularly with WCAG 2.0 harmonization), but I fear
that the 'new' 508 guidelines will be terribly out-of-date before they
even become law. When you consider the process that is required, I
estimate this will be late 2014 at the soonest, assuming immediate
(though unlikely) progress after the election.

Fortunately, most of us here are smart enough and passionate enough
about accessibility that we've moved beyond the minimal and, now,
almost laughable requirements in current Section 508, and we realize
that the future of 508 will probably not be much different than the
present of Section 508 - increasingly irrelevant to the true
accessibility needs of people with disabilities.

Jared