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

Fri May 20 21:33:21 UTC 2011

It's doable but awkward. 

Mike Freeman
sent from my iPhone

On May 20, 2011, at 13:01, Âris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com> wrote:

> Wow, Amtrak? That's one of the important ones that blind people would need to access, in my opinion.  Probably blind people in urban areas use Amtrak all the time.
> 
> Chris
> 
> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
> 
> --- Sent from my BrailleNote
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 19 May 2011 20:01:33 -0600
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: [gui-talk] Fwd: Federal Government Not Complyingwith Web Site Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates
> 
> 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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