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Re: 508 asks for a VPAT what does W3C have that's similar

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From: John E Brandt
Date: Oct 22, 2013 2:03PM

Hi Lucia, I'm not sure I understand your question.

The current Section 508 rules have six sets of Technical Standards. Five are
related to the acquisition (i.e., procurement) of hardware and software. The
sixth part is related to "Web-based intranet and internet information and
applications" - the part we generally refer to when reviewing the
accessibility of websites. As I understand the discussion so far, the
recommendation for what is being called the "refresh" of Section 508 is to
have that web accessibility section - subpart 1194.22 Web-based intranet and
internet information and applications - become more consistent with the
(newer) WAI-WCAG version, as well as, Section 255 - Telecommunications Act
Accessibility Guidelines of December 2012.

The Voluntary Product Accessibility TemplateR, or VPATR, is a tool used to
document a product's conformance with the accessibility standards under
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. It was developed by a trade agency,
the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) and not the federal
government. See http://www.itic.org/public-policy/accessibility and see
also
http://www.essent.com/News/Blog/Understanding-Section-508-Compliance-and-VPA
T-284-37.htm

I suspect that the ITIC will come out with a new VPAT template after the
Access Board has promulgated the final rules revisions to Section 508.

From your message, it appears University of California is sort of jumping
ahead of the federal government and adopting the WAI-WCAG version 2
guidelines. I would assume that if the University of California has adopted
new policy, they have established a new set of rules - apparently not? Maybe
they want you to write the rules!

Remember that WAI-WCAG is not a set of guidelines for the procurement of
hardware and software. But, that said, you may want to take a look at this
document, "Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and
Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT) ... which describes how the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 [WCAG20] and its principles,
guidelines, and success criteria can be applied to non-web Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT), specifically to non-web documents and
software. It provides informative guidance (guidance that is not normative
and does not set requirements)." Find this document here:
http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/

As others have pointed out here in the group, the "refresh" of Section 508
is still months (years?) in the future. The proposed rules are on the Access
Board website.


~j

John E. Brandt
jebswebs: accessible and universal web design,
development and consultation
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA

@jebswebs