[nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government NotComplyingwith Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

Âris Nusbaum dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Fri May 20 20:01:38 UTC 2011 

 I'm guessing it depends on what you're using: a screen reader, a 
notetaker, a smartphone?

 Chris

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

--- Sent from my BrailleNote

----- Original Message -----
From: Brice Smith <brice.smith319 at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 20 May 2011 00:20:43 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government 
NotComplyingwith Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study 
Indicates

At the risk of being that guy, I just took two minutes to find a 
train
from my hometown to Orlando for convention.  It would cost me 
about $80
and would travel through the night.  I backed out short of 
entering my
credit card number.

I didn't experience any awkward poking around and the process 
seemed
usable to me.

What's the problem?

Brice

On 5/19/11, Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com> wrote:
 :)  Let the hair-splitting begin.

 On 5/19/11, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
 I can make reservations on the site; it's just terribly awkward 
and one
 has
 to poke around a bit and realize that as you add stuff, the page 
expands.

 Mike


 -----Original Message-----
 From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
 Behalf
 Of Nicole B.  Torcolini at Home
 Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 7:54 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government 
NotComplying
 with Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

 Okay...  Can you explain?

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com
 To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
 <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 7:51 PM
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government 
NotComplying
 with Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates


 Actually, AMTRAK's site is accessible -- it just isn't useable 
-- they're
 two different things.

 Mike


 -----Original Message-----
 From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
 Behalf
 Of Jorge Paez
 Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 7:26 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government 
Not
 Complying
 with Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates

 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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--
Brice Smith
North Carolina State University, Communication - Public Relations
Brice.Smith319 at gmail.com

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