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are accessibility audits mandetory in any nation?

for

From: Stephanie Warenski
Date: Sep 4, 2006 6:00PM

Now I know that any organization receiving federal funds has to comply with
Title V, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Many universities
receive federal funds have to comply with this section. Why is Section 508
different. Maybe I need to research the law some more.

Stephanie


> Universities under 508? Nope. Only Federal agencies, not even the
> Judiciary
> or Congress. Some argue that receipt of federal dollars requires
> 508
> compliance - it doesn't.
>
> There is one exception to that las statement - sort of. States that
> receive
> funds through the Assistive Technology Act (see
> http://www.ataporg.org/aboutus.asp) are required to provide an
> assurance of
> 508 compliance. From the ATAP site:
>
> <blockquote>
> States which receive Federal funds under the Assistive Technology
> Act of
> 1998 are required by that Act to provide an assurance of compliance
> with
> Section 508. Currently all states and territories receive
> Assistive
> Technology Act dollars and all have some form of Section 508
> assurance.
> These state Section 508 assurances most frequently take the form of
> a simple
> assurance statement with limited or no specifics regarding
> implementation.
> </blockquote>
>
> Read extensive material on Accessibility and the law in chapters by
> Cynthia
> Waddell in the new and exciting, "Web Accessibility - Web Standards
> and
> Regulatory Compliance" by Thatcher, Burks, Heilmann, Henry,
> Kirkpatric,
> Lauke, Lawson, Regan, Rutter, Urban and Waddell,
> http://jimthatcher.com/book2.htm.
>
> Jim
>
> Accessibility Consulting: http://jimthatcher.com/
> 512-306-0931
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Cheryl D
> Wise
> Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 10:03 AM
> To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
> Subject: RE: [WebAIM] are accessibility audits mandetory in any
> nation?
>
> Aren't universities under section 504?
>
> Cheryl D Wise
> MS MVP FrontPage
> http://by-expression.com
> Online instructor led training http://starttoweb.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John E. Brandt
>
> In the United States, Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act
> only
> currently applies to US federal government websites and IT services.
> Despite
> the fact it has been "the law" for several years, there are still a
> number
> of government websites that do not completely conform to Section
> 508. I know
> of none being "sued."
>
> There is a difference of opinion as to whether other governmental
> or
> pseudo-governmental organizations need to also comply with Section
> 508. The
> law does not require non-governmental organizations such as
> businesses or
> individuals to comply.
>
> In a number of states, the state governments have adopted Section
> 508 or
> some form of web accessibility standards. Here in Maine, the web
> accessibility standards are a combination of Section 508, WCAG and
> some of
> our own unique requirements.
>
> The issue of pseudo-governmental compliance is also at issue. For
> example,
> should the state university system comply? Should all of the public
> schools
> comply? Should non-governmental organizations that get most of their
> money
> through grants from the state comply?
>
> Also in the U.S. we have the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
> which is
> a more general law relating to accessibility. I believe that the
> recent
> lawsuit brought against Target department stores' for having a
> non-accessible website was based upon ADA compliance as well as some
> state
> disability discrimination laws.
>
>
> John E. Brandt
> Augusta, Maine USA
> www.jebswebs.com
>
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