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Re: W3C structure, Standards bodies, and more (wasHow is PDF accessibility evaluated?)

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From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Feb 7, 2015 3:00PM

Katie wrote: "...You might actually want to get off the back of the US
Access Board..."

No. I won't. We should have been at this point a few years ago.
Having been a publishing consultant to all US Federal government publishing
offices for 40 years, I have to honestly say that the Access Board has acted
at a snail's pace.
Slowest.
Speed.
Ever.

I have several family members, close friends, colleagues, and clients with
disabilities that include pretty much everything covered by Sec. 508. It
sickens me to see them struggle year and year while they wait for the
revised guidelines to give them equal access to information for both their
personal and work lives.

Reviewing the timeline, which is excerpted from the Access Board's website:
- February 3, 1998 - Board publishes original Telecommunications Act
Accessibility Guidelines.
- December 21, 2000 - Board issues original Section 508 Standards.
- March 22, 2010 - Board releases draft ICT proposed rule to update the
Section 508 standards and Telecommunications Act guidelines.
- December 8, 2011 - Revised draft proposed rule released for comment.
- February 23, 2014 - Proposed rule submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for review (OMB has 90 days to complete its review).

It is now 15 years and 2 months after the first Sec. 508 standards and we
are still waiting for it to be fixed. Per law, we must follow
regulations/standards/guidelines that are 15 years out of date and no longer
reflect today's technology and people's needs.

If OMB had 90 days from last February - one year ago - to review the draft,
what's stalling the process 9 months later?
Why, in the first place, did it take the Access Board 14 years to develop
the revised standards now under review?
Since OMB is under direct White House control, is there any chance we'll see
new standards by the time President Obama leaves office in 2 years? I worry
what our chances will be with the successor White House administration.

I don't make these comments off the top of my head.
I speak as someone who has worked inside countless US federal agencies and
helped them publish millions (and probably billions) of pages of government
regulations, legislation, and public documents.

I don't understand why it's taking so long for the 508 Refresh. Yes, it's a
complex issue, but not nearly as complex by, say, EPA regulations. Yes, the
standards have to go through legally mandated procedures and review. But
it's 4 years and 2 months since the 2011 draft (the latest one that's
public).
Why.
So.
Long?

If OMB is the bottleneck, maybe we ordinary citizens should organize a
protest in front of their offices near the White House. Can you imagine the
PR? A few hundred disabled Americans chanting, "Hell no we won't go, until
you give us the 508 refresh!" OK, the rhyme needs some work. But I can get
all the major news outlets to cover event, local and national. That could
move the 508 Refresh up to the top of the stack of paper on someone's desk!

--Bevi Chagnon
(Proud US citizen, but still not a happy 508-camper)
(And apologies for the Washington shoptalk)