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Re: [FWD] Universities Legal Web Accessibility Update

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From: Jeff Finlay
Date: Nov 20, 2003 2:29PM

> Here's a key difference between Section 504 and Section 508: Section 504
> allows organizations to make accommodations on an as-needed basis, which
> sometimes means that the accommodations come many days, weeks, or even
> months after the initial request. Section 508 requires a more pro-active
> stance, because it says that the resources must be accessible to begin
> with.

Paul, you'd probably know more about this than me, but I have seen some
OCR people rule very strictly on 504 and they wouldn't agree that 504
allows for any kind of slow-down in providing accommodations. The actual
wording of this law is pretty explicit about the need for timeliness in
requested accommodations. However, I think a bigger problem with 504 is
that it IS designed for accommodation needs recurring on a case by case
basis. As long as this is the stop-gap solution for fixing accessibility
problems in the online environment it makes it difficult to purpose
technology as a means of reframing the planning and delivery process.
508 is much more in sync with the latter.

Jeff


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