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Re: Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

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From: Pollard, Larry W. (DRS)
Date: Jun 6, 2011 2:33PM

Good Afternoon Courtney I hope the following give you a better
understanding. This is what we run as far as accessibility testing.

http://www.vadsa.org/scorecard/

The WAI / Scorecard assessment is an annual report that is run by the
Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services for all state agencies.
The purpose of the report is to give each agency a detailed report on
how accessible their site is to people with disabilities such as vision
impaired consumers. For example, if you are blind, you might use an
automated screen reader. The screen reader, a software program, not only
reads aloud the body text on a page, but also describes Web elements
such as images. However, in order for a screen reader to describe images
and other Web elements to the user, the HTML or other markup language
used to code the page must make this information available to the screen
reader. This site was developed in order to provide statistical analysis
for accessibility (WCAG 1 / Section 508) and detailed reporting for all
commonwealth executive branch agency web sites. This site assesses
compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content and
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level A and Federal Section 508 web
standards. Compliancy is rated through a series of in-depth site
reports. All site reports were created using ACCVerify by HiSoftware.
The settings used in ACCVerify combine the requirements for WCAG
Priority 1 along with suggestions for potential issues with priorities 2
and 3. In addition, Section 508 components are added in order to
consolidate all tests into one report. To review a detailed side-by-side
analysis of WCAG 1.0 and Section 508 standards, please visit
http://www.jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm#WCAGView .
Accessibility today has two meanings for Web content:
Information is accessible when it meets U.S. federal regulations for Web
content. As of June 25, 2001, federally maintained Web sites and
networks are required to comply with these accessibility standards
Information is also accessible when it achieves the highest level of
usability. In addition to federal regulations, there are many more
suggestions that help everyone to find and use Web-based information.
For additional information, contact the W3C(r) or visit
http://www.w3.org/WAI
















Larry. Pollard
Accessibility Webmaster
Department of Rehabilitative Services
-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Ritz,
Courtney L. (GSFC-7500)
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 3:22 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List; 'Morin, Gary(NIH/OD) [E]'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

This is indeed very interesting.
When I do Section 508 testing, I usually stick with the checkpoints in
1194.22.
But when we were filling out the recent DOJ Section 508 survey, in the
section pertaining to 2 Web sites and 2 Web applications to be tested,
there were definitely more than the 16 checkpoints listed. I believe
the extra ones came from 1194.24, including those pertaining to
captioning and audio description. Someone correct me if I'm wrong,
though. (grins)

Courtney

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of John E Brandt
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 3:01 PM
To: 'Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]'; 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

Gary,

Are you saying that the "testing" that Jennifer's group will be
experiencing will include all parts of the Section 508 Standards? She
specifically referenced "... our website and web-based applications will
be tested ..."

There are a number of subsections in Subpart B: Technical Standards
which includes the Video and multimedia products (substandard 1194.24) -
where the reference to audio descriptions is made. Subsection 1194.22
that deals with Web-based intranet and internet information and
applications does not appear to have the audio description requirement.

I am curious since I've always heard that Section 508 only really
applies to federal agencies and the Post Office. Many states and
organizations have adopted the Subsection 1194.22 for the accessibility
standard for their websites, but not the other standards.

If the Fed is now auditing all of their contractors for full compliance
to all of standards of Section 508 - that would be BIG news.

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA


-----Original Message-----
From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E] [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 2:11 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Cc: 'McDonald, Jennifer'; ' <EMAIL REMOVED> '
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

Videos and multimedia need Audio-Description, in addition to captioning
(transcriptions being provided only for audio-only files). And the
multimedia players need to be tested - rarely are they accessible to
those of us who use speech recognition, as well as to screen readers,
from what I've heard. Audio Description is no less required, just less
provided.

Gary M. Morin, Program Analyst
NIH Office of the Chief Information Officer
10401 Fernwood Rd, Room 3G-17
Bethesda, MD 20892, Mail Stop: 4833

(301) 402-3924 Voice, 451-9326 TTY/NTS
Videophone (240) 380-3063; (301) 402-4464 Fax

NIH Section 508 Team: mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ?subject=Section
508 Help or, for Section 508 Guidance,
http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/index.html

WHAT IF THE FIRST QUESTION WE ASKED WAS, "WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT THIS
SITUATION THAT IT JUSTIFIES EXCLUSION? INSTEAD OF, "HOW MUCH DOES IT
COST TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE?"


-----Original Message-----
From: John E Brandt [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 1:40 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

Don't forget to make sure all videos are captioned and all audio file
transcribed.

If you use animations or Flash, you are going to have to ensure these
are also accessible.

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of McDonald,
Jennifer
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 12:20 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Section 508 Testing/Section 508 Refresh

The company that I work for has been notified that our website and
web-based applications will be tested to determine "how well it complies
with the standards of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in
1998". We do work on behalf of the Department of Education. Has anyone
been through this before? While we feel confident that we're indeed
accessible, we're wondering which standards they'll use to test by.
I've been performing all of my analysis based on WCAG 2 - and I've been
researching Section 508 Refresh. Do they use real people to test
objectively? Or do they run it through a validator?

If anyone has had any experience with a government accessibility review
I would love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Jennifer McDonald
Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation Ecommerce - Assistant Web
Producer Web Design and User Experience



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