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

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From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Feb 7, 2015 10:55PM

Go, Bevi!

And thanks for the shoptalk—it's great to hear that perspective.

Cliff Tyllick

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 7, 2015, at 4:00 PM, Chagnon | PubCom < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> 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 regulations/standards/guidelines that are 15 years out of date and no longer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)
>
>