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

Fri May 20 02:25:50 UTC 2011

What screenreader are you using?

On May 19, 2011, at 10:01 PM, Kirt Manwaring wrote:

> 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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>> 
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