Industry still raising questions about IT accessibility

As the June 25 compliance deadline for new federal information technology accessibility regulations nears, stakeholders in industry and government continue to ask how to conform to the letter of the law. At a Wednesday meeting organized by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., officials from government agencies fielded questions from an audience filled with IT officials from private firms and representatives of the disabled about new regulations designed to make IT more accessible to people with disabilities. "I think we share the same goal on this," Davis told the audience. "We're obviously committed to making this work." Section 508of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 requires that all federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to the disabled. The rules to implement Section 508, which were drafted by the U.S. Access Board, require changes in federal procurement policy, since procurement officials must ensure that purchased technology is Section 508-compliant. In the past few months, government and industry officials have scrambled to understand their role in Section 508 compliance. Davis, who serves as chairman of the House Government Reform Technology and Procurement Policy Subcommittee, has also raised concerns about the rules, saying vendors should have the flexibility to implement market-driven solutions. "We've got a law and a regulation to implement, but it's incumbent upon all of the folks up here and in the audience to make this as easy as possible to do," said John Sindelar, deputy associate administrator for governmentwide policy at the General Services Administration. Sindelar recounted his agency's efforts to clear up confusion about Section 508, including working with the federal Chief Information Officers' Council, working closely with stakeholders to craft the regulation and hosting information forums. Under the rules, all contracts awarded on or after June 25 must be Section 508-compliant. Though the new rules technically apply only to the software used in federal contracts, the rule effectively mandates software changes in both the public and private sectors for any companies that do business with the government. On Wednesday, audience members raised questions about the future of existing technology. "We do not encourage agencies to get rid of Web sites that would otherwise be used because they are not compliant," said Mary Lou Mobley, an attorney with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "But agencies do need to provide good contact information so that people with disabilities have a way to find that information and agencies have a responsibility to quickly provide this information in an alternative format." According to Mobley, federal agencies must buy products that are Section 508-compliant unless there is undue burden caused by significant difficulty or significant expense.