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Thread: 508 update? when?
Number of posts in this thread: 10 (In chronological order)
From: Nancy Johnson
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 6:07AM
Subject: 508 update? when?
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Hi,
I was asked to test some sites for 508 compliance. One question I have is
does anyone know when the updated 508 is going into affect? I have to
put together a proposal.
Thanks,
Nancy Johnson
From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 6:35AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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Nancy,
I haven't heard a peep about it, so unless your proposal is for 6+
months, I'd say you're safe using the current regs,
--
Ryan E. Benson
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 8:07 AM, Nancy Johnson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was asked to test some sites for 508 compliance. One question I have is
> does anyone know when the updated 508 is going into affect? I have to
> put together a proposal.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nancy Johnson
> > >
From: Pratik Patel
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 6:55AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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Nancy Johnson Wrote
does anyone know when the updated 508 is going into affect? I have to
put together a proposal.
PP: It is my understanding that the Access Board is trying to put through
the next draft (NPRM). They have submitted the documents for review to the
Office of Management and Budget several times now. I suspect politics is
holding things back. The Board has to resubmit for OMB review every three
months if not approved.
Pratik
From: Bevi Chagnon
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 9:07AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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As someone noted, things are running pretty slowly here in Washington and
will for another month or longer. The end of the fiscal year, the election,
the way the political winds are blowing today <grin>.
Once OMB approves the 508 refresh, the Access Board will place it into the
Federal Register and it becomes the new standard. From that date, it will be
12 months until it will be enforceable.
So an estimated timeline I give my clients is:
Entered into the Federal Register -- between Jan 2013 and April 2013
Enforcement -- Jan 2014 and April 2014.
I encourage my clients to use this "lag" period to "gently" make the
transition to the new standards. Start aiming toward the new standards,
practice the techniques, get your staff trained, deploy the workflow and
tweak procedures, etc. so that when it does take affect, they're already up
to speed and in compliance. This strategy usually appeases higher ups and
takes the pressure off the actual employee who has to adjust to new work
procedures and tasks related to Sec. 508 compliance.
--Bevi Chagnon
-
Bevi Chagnon, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
PubCom - Trainers, consultants, designers, and developers
Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and Federal Section 508 Accessibility
-
* It's our 30th Year! *
From: Noble,Stephen L.
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 9:10AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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It is not uncommon for proposed regulatory changes, in general, to be held back this close to an election. That being said, I have no "inside track" on the status of the 508 NPRM.
--Steve Noble
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] on behalf of Pratik Patel [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 8:55 AM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] 508 update? when?
Nancy Johnson Wrote
does anyone know when the updated 508 is going into affect? I have to
put together a proposal.
PP: It is my understanding that the Access Board is trying to put through
the next draft (NPRM). They have submitted the documents for review to the
Office of Management and Budget several times now. I suspect politics is
holding things back. The Board has to resubmit for OMB review every three
months if not approved.
Pratik
From: John E Brandt
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 9:55AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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I have managed to stay out of the fray regarding the "refresh" of Section
508, electing to wait until the final official version is published. I
expected the whole process to take years, and apparently it has/will.
In any case, I took a look at the latest draft (published last December -
see http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm ) and if I am reading this
correctly, it appears that all references to web design/development
"standards" are directed to WCAG 2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.0, W3C Recommendation, 11 December 2008).
There are tons of public comments posted on this site as well and I don't
plan to read them. But if I am correct in my reading of the draft, it
appears that if you build your websites - and any proposal to build/develop
websites - to meet the WCAG 2, you are probably going to meet the "new"
Section 508 requirements.
Am I close to being accurate here?
~j
John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA
From: Bevi Chagnon
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 11:32AM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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One problem I have with the new draft of the 508 refresh is that it sweeps
all federal information into WCAG 2.0. There are so many areas where Word,
PDF, and other electronic files don't fit the WCAG model (which was
developed specifically for web information only) that it becomes difficult
sometimes to know how to meet the requirements for normal office documents.
This has produced a huge gap of murkiness in the regulations,
misunderstandings, and confusion, and I suspect we'll see some future
lawsuits from this problem.
Previous 508 drafts had separate sections for documents, as opposed to
websites, and that was very helpful.
We can't choose to make only websites accessible: all information, no matter
what form it is in, must be accessible. The new draft misses this critical
nuance entirely.
--Bevi
-
Bevi Chagnon, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
PubCom - Trainers, consultants, designers, and developers
Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and Federal Section 508 Accessibility
-
* It's our 30th Year! *
From: Bourne, Sarah (ITD)
Date: Tue, Sep 25 2012 1:54PM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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According to a presentation sponsored by SSBBART last Fall, we still have additional steps to go.
The next step for The Access Board is issuing a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" (NPRM). (The previous ones were "Advanced Notice of ..." or ANPRM.) After publishing the NPRM in the Federal Register, there will be another Public Comment period. Those comments will then be analyzed and they will develop the "final rule". Then there is a " final regulatory assessment", after which the "Final Rule" will be posted in the Federal Register. The effective date will be in the Final Rule.
If the rules indeed do not go into effect for another 12 months after that, then I think late 2014 is more likely.
sb
Sarah E. Bourne
Director of Assistive Technology &
Mass.Gov Chief Technology Strategist
Information Technology Division
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1 Ashburton Pl. rm 1601 Boston MA 02108
617-626-4502
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.mass.gov/itd
From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
Date: Thu, Sep 27 2012 1:14PM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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Pretty amazing that discussion of revisions have been under discussion and process now since 2006!
Because of the rapid changes in technology, in 2006, the Access Board began the process to update the Section 508 EIT Accessibility Standards by establishing an advisory committee. The advisory committee was composed of representatives from industry, disability groups, standard setting bodies in the United States and abroad, and government agencies. On April 3, 2008, the advisory committee presented its report and recommendations to the Access Board, and on March 22, 2010, the Access Board issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to update and revise the Section 508 EIT Accessibility Standards. In response to comments, the Access Board made significant changes to the 2010 ANPRM and issued a second ANPRM on December 8, 2011. The comment period for the second ANPRM ended on March 7, 2012. The Access Board anticipates publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking in early 2013.
* DOJ released its Section 508 Report today! Links are below.
* Press Release about the 508 Report: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/September/12-crt-1103.html
* DOJ 508 home page: http://www.ada.gov/508/
* Current 508 Report: http://www.ada.gov/508/508_Report.htm
Gary
From: Jared Smith
Date: Thu, Sep 27 2012 1:28PM
Subject: Re: 508 update? when?
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On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 1:14 PM, Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
< = EMAIL ADDRESS 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