[nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complying with Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

[Kirt Manwaring]

This surprises me-not that I'm a government internet expert, but I've
seen a lot of their sites and the only one that really gave me any
trouble was Amtrak.

On 5/19/11, Jorge Paez <computertechjorgepaez at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
>> Date: May 19, 2011 8:22:40 PM EDT
>> To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complying with Web Site
>> Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates
>> Reply-To: "Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing
>> List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> 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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