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Re: Regarding Section 508 discussion

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Feb 9, 2015 3:13PM

There are so many reasons why it's taking so long for the new regulations that I don't know where to begin. No one is our enemy, no one is at fault, and yet everyone is at fault, too.
So here's the short version from inside the DC Beltway...

The Access Board was set up in the 1970s after the first legislation for barrier-free access to buildings was passed. Curb-cuts, dimensions for handicapped restrooms, etc. were its only focus for many years. Other areas were assigned to the Access Board over the years, including access to medical diagnostic equipment and since 1998, Sec. 508 accessibility. Their process for developing and revising guidelines -- all guidelines for all areas -- is slow, deliberately slow, in order to get the job done right.

The "board" of the Access Board is comprised of a couple dozen public and federal government members. You can view the roster here: http://www.access-board.gov/the-board/members This board meets every other month, reviews items for all its coverage areas (not just Sec. 508), and when they can't achieve quorum, the meeting's agenda is postponed to the next session. I was told this happened in the fall, no quorum therefore no movement on Sec. 508.

Another factor is that of all the board members listed, I don't see anyone's bio mentioning expertise in computer technologies. Some are architects/engineers and architectural barrier experts, there are quite a few people who've headed up organizations that service people with various disabilities, but not one bio lists any expertise in technology. Don't misinterpret my words: these are highly capable people with impressive credentials...just not in technology, as far as we can tell.

It is a very small agency; budget is only a little over $7 million, and reading the tea leaves from the annual employee survey you can determine that they have 28 employees. You can view the director's annual report here: http://www.access-board.gov/the-board/budget-and-performance/performance-and-accountability-report. My conclusion is that they are understaffed, which is not unusual today at any DC agency; staff reductions have been in place since the Reagan administration of the 1980s, and agency budgets were decimated in 2002 with the beginning of US war efforts. The money had to come from somewhere, so we kissed our social services goodbye and sent it overseas.

At OMB (the agency responsible for reviewing all US federal regulations), their budget and personnel problems are similar. I believe the OMB office reviewing the Sec. 508 refresh is the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/oira. The list of regulations under review in 2014 is here: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoReviewSearch;jsessionid=FF929CABBC83708759EE16FB293754BD and I don't see the Section 508 Refresh on their list. Maybe this isn't the right office? Maybe no one put it on the list? And I wonder how many people at that review office know how to make an accessible Word document themselves.

My final comments:

1. I think Sec. 508 is caught up in a dysfunctional government system. It will take a large public outcry to see any change. (I'll give suggestions for that later.)

2. No one in government understands what Sec. 508 is, how to make documents and websites accessible, and how much in-accessibility hurts our citizens. People are stymied and, therefore, nothing changes. No one wants to push the paperwork forward because they don't understand the consequences.

3. Whoever's desk the paperwork is sitting on most likely can't make an accessible Word. The fear inside government agencies is pure doom and gloom; they'll have to do twice as much work in the same workday for the same pay. I deal with this misconception every day. As some of us on the list have said, all they need is a basic MS Word class plus a little extra and voila! Most government documents become accessible.

And that's the short version! If you want the long version, we'll have to do it over beers at the local pub <grin>.

Regarding what we can do:
My first thought is that we need to develop a gross-roots lobbying effort like every other cause! Numbers mean a lot, especially lots of citizens complaining about discrimination to their senators and congressional representatives. Only senators, representatives, and the President have the clout to question an agency, or check with its director and ask what's going on.

But before we ask for something, we, the community, need to figure out exactly what we're going to ask for! Right now, none of us know what the latest draft of Sec. 508 states. The most recent version online is from 2011, 4 years ago. What's changed in it since then?

And given the errors Karen talked about in the Access Board's session last week on making accessible Word documents, I'm really worried what's in the latest 508 draft! Hopefully their crazy techniques aren't being written into the regulations themselves.

What to ask your senators and representative to do?
1. Raise the Access Board's budget to allow it to hire more people specifically for accessible technology, not architectural barriers or their other subjects. Technology changes faster than doors and toilets. They probably need some technology + accessibility experts on staff, and also on the board.
2. Ask him/her to see where its review is at OMB.

And ask President Obama to do the same. The White House has put out "presidential statements" over the years stating how all the agencies must meet Sec. 508 regulations. Well, without the new Sec. 508 Refresh, the agencies are having a hard time doing that! He needs to put some muscle on the Access Board and OMB, get the logjam fixed, and get 508 on the books, ASAP.

Those with disabilities should personalize their letters. Tell them about your disability and how inaccessible websites, Word documents, PDFs, etc. has affected your life. Ask your friends and family members to also write.

Make sure your politicians don't let their politics get in the way of your rights. This is not a Democratic, Republican, Tea-Party, Libertarian, Green Party, or Whatever Party issue. It's a people issue; disabilities affect people of all political persuasions, creeds, races, and economic groups. Don't let your Senators or Congressional Representative hijack this into a political broo-ha-ha.

You can contact your Senators through the Senate website here: http://www.senate.gov/ If you don't know their names, use the form field Find Your Senators in the upper left. That will take you to their individual webpage where there is a link to email them directly (for security purposes, all email to Congress goes through these websites, so don't try to circumvent them).

Contact your Congressional Representative here: http://www.house.gov/ Same as the Senate; use the form field Find Your Representatives in the upper left, and email them from their individual webpage.

And contact President Obama here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

These emails are screened by aides, not your senator, congressman, or the President. But...and this is a very significant "but"... when the number of emails reaches a critical mass, the aide tallies the numbers and passes them along to the boss. There really is strength in numbers.

We don't want everyone to post the same email: that's a negative and will flag everything as spam. I think I've given enough background above so that you can write something in your own words. Keep it short, 3 or 4 sentences at most. Don't badmouth anyone. And keep your eyes on the prize; ask for the main item which is to get OMB to complete their review and hand it back to the Access Board.

And don't worry if you didn't vote for these people: that's irrelevant. It's the law that they must represent voters and nonvoters alike. You do, however, have to be a US citizen.

--Bevi Chagnon
(closet policy wonk)