Tech firms embrace opportunities in Rehabilitation Act

Compliance with federal information technology accessibility standards is an ongoing process, and the rapid evolution of technology is what will make IT companies competitive in this arena, according to panelists Wednesday.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 requires agencies to ensure that federal employees and members of the public with disabilities can use computers and all other technologies without attaching assistive devices to them. Federal agencies and their contractors have been scrambling to make their technology compliant since the rule went into effect June 21, 2001.

"I think everyone has recognized this is a great living law," said Craig Luigart, chief information officer for the Education Department. He added that partnerships among industry groups and good communication with government agencies have aided companies that provide technologies to the government.

Luigart also noted that several key members of the Bush administration are proponents of Section 508, pointing out White House Domestic Policy Council's policy adviser Jennifer Childs Sheehy, who gave the keynote address at the Interagency Disability Educational Awareness Showcase on Tuesday; Education Secretary Roderick Paige and Mark Forman, director of IT and e-government for the Office of Management and Budget.

The federal rules have spurred the growth of new industries that were created to address the technological needs. He likened industry response to the reception closed-captioned television received at its birth, saying that although industry members were hesitant that the technology would really catch on, they never imagined it could be used in sports bars or gyms.

Ken Salaets, director of government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), said, "we anticipate moving ahead aggressively" on industry initiatives addressing Section 508. He said that industry is more concerned with advocating compliant market solutions than fighting the government on more regulations.

Salaets said ITI is hoping to take its plans for increasingly accessible products global, and might ask for international industry support for the initiative.

"We're one wide market with one wide world," Salaets said. "There's no reason accessibility should be any different."

Mike Takemura, accessibility program director for Compaq Computer, said although industry has hit some bumps in determining what programs work, "we don't want to hit a bar with Section 508 ... we want to go far beyond that." He added that next-generation accessibility products are "where the excitement is" for industry.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), meanwhile, is formulating suggestions for the Justice Department on how to address Section 508 issues, such as accessibility complaint procedures and the role vendors should play in the process, said Rex Lint, chair of the Section 508 working group for ITAA.