[Blindtlk] [Nfb-announce] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complyingwith Web SiteAccessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

Mon May 23 21:39:50 UTC 2011

Get his signature noterized on one of the documents and they will have to 
accept it.
----- Original Message --
David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.--- 
From: "Graves, Diane" <dgraves at icrc.IN.gov>
To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 2:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [Nfb-announce] Fwd: Federal Government Not 
Complyingwith Web SiteAccessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

Hi Mary,

The signature issue completely stumps me, as I have never had this problem. 
Believe me when I say that my signature is not legible.  How does it work 
when someone files online? I've never done it myself, so I don't know. How 
does one authenticate their signatures there, as they wouldn't be manually 
signing anything?

Maybe you could get your husband a signature stamp.

Diane Graves
Civil Rights Specialist
Indiana Civil Rights Commission
Alternative Dispute Resolutions Unit
317-232-2647

"It is service that measures success."
George Washington Carver

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
Behalf Of Mary Mc Gee
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 12:55 PM
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [Nfb-announce] Fwd: Federal Government Not 
Complyingwith Web SiteAccessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

Hi, All;
Why am I not overcome with surprise to learn this?  Probably because I've
complained to Sen. Harkin's numerous times about noncompliance.
Incidentally, for those of you who expounded on the signature issue, the IRS
sent out tax forms back for the second year in a row now saying that my
husband's signature isn't "valid", whatever that means.  Any ideas on how to
make it "valid"?
Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Âris Nusbaum
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 3:02 PM
To: NFB Talk list; Blind Talk list; NFBMD list; jsotwel at carrollk12.org;
Nathan Clark; Josh Gregory; gary.legates at comcast.net
Cc: areid at browngold.com
Subject: [Blindtlk] [Nfb-announce] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complyingwith
Web SiteAccessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

Here we go! Government not complying with their own laws, this
time with accessibility.

 Chris

"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)

--- Sent from my BrailleNote

---- Original Message ------
From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com
Subject: [Nfb-announce] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complying
with Web SiteAccessibility Requirements, Study Indicates
Date sent: Thu, 19 May 2011 19:22:40 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org

Federal Government Not Complying with Web Site
  Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

National Federation of the Blind Expresses Outrage, Demands Swift
Action

Baltimore, Maryland (May 19, 2011): A study that has just been
published online in the journal
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0740624X>Government
Information Quarterly has found that of one-hundred Web sites
operated by federal government agencies, over 90 percent do not
comply with government accessibility guidelines and likely cannot
be
used by people who are blind or have other perceptual or motor
disabilities.  The study, entitled "Accessibility of U.S.
federal
government home pages: Section 508 compliance and site
accessibility
statements" and coauthored by Doctoral Student Abiodun Olalere
and
Professor Jonathan Lazar of Towson University, found that the
home
pages of over 90 percent of the Web sites they evaluated
contained
violations of the government's own guidelines for compliance with
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  That law requires
that government electronic and information technology be
accessible
to people with disabilities.

Dr.  Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the
Blind,
said: "Blind Americans are outraged that the government is
failing
to comply with its own guidelines to make government information
and
services available to citizens with disabilities.  Given the
clear
legal requirements of Section 508 and the fact that use of the
Internet is critical to education, employment, access to
government
benefits and services, and all other aspects of modern life,
there
is no excuse for failure to follow and rigorously enforce these
guidelines.  We demand that officials in all branches of
government
take immediate steps to bring all federal Web sites into
compliance
with the law, and we pledge to continue to hold the federal
government accountable if it continues to treat the blind and
others
with disabilities as second-class citizens."

The study evaluated the home pages of one-hundred government Web
sites across all three branches of the federal government,
including
executive agencies, independent agencies, government corporations
(e.g.  Amtrak), the United States Congress, the United States
Supreme
Court, United States federal courts, and "open government" Web
sites
like <http://www.usajobs.gov>www.usajobs.gov and
<http://www.ready.gov>www.ready.gov.  The authors utilized both
automated-software tools and human-expert inspections on each
home
page, and determined that over 90 percent of the home pages were
not
in compliance with the Section 508 regulations.

Most of the accessibility problems were common ones that are
easily
resolved, such as unlabeled images, mislabeled forms or tables,
videos without captioning, flash without any textual equivalents,
and lack of keyboard equivalents for mouse-over actions.  The
authors
noted that this is not a problem unique to one agency.  Similar
problems occur on multiple agency Web sites, and the core problem
is
the lack of consistent compliance activities and enforcement
throughout the federal government.

The study makes several recommendations to increase compliance,
including improved resources on complying with the guidelines;
better documentation of best practices; publishing of information
about which agencies are compliant and noncompliant with
accessibility guidelines as part of the open government
dashboard;
and better enforcement and monitoring procedures within
government
agencies, such as the loss of Web-posting privileges for
repeatedly
posting inaccessible content.

###

About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the
Blind
is the largest and most influential membership organization of
blind
people in the United States.  The NFB improves blind people's
lives
through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs
encouraging independence and self-confidence.  It is the leading
force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's
blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of
the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training
center
in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

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