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Intepretation on section 508 and use of logic tests

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From: indamockwood-l@verizon.net
Date: Jun 9, 2006 8:10AM

Dear all,

I am very new to this list, so please forgive me if this is not an appropriate topic. Forgive me too, if this is a little bit long.

I am fairly familiar with the rules regarding section 508 in the United States. And when I (and I think many others) think of accessibility and section 508, I think, in general, of creating web sites that will work well for visual and hearing impaired users.

But is it possible that other disabilities can apply?

The reason I ask, is that recently some members of the US Congress, in order to prevent en-masse postings their web forms, allowed for the introduction of a logic test (go to http://www.house.gov/writerep , select California, and use the zip 93292). Obviously, they are trying to model what other web sites do, where they create a java-produced image on the fly with the funky backgrounds with numbers and make you type those in. However, we all know those are not compliant. So instead we have these text-based logic tests.

My question is this - are these logic tests 508 compliant? I realize that anyone who has a visual or hearing impairment might not have a problem with this, but what about someone with dyslexia or dyscalculia. They may come to these logic tests, not be able to answer the questions, and then be denied access to a web site that an otherwise non-impaired person would have access to.

Am I stretching this a bit? I would just like to get other people's opinions and/or interpretations.

Marissa