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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><br>
<font size=4><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b></font></blockquote><br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><b>CONTACT:<br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a> <br>
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</font><div align="center"><font size=4><b>Federal Government Not
Complying with Web Site<br>
Accessibility Requirements, Study Indicates<br>
</b></font></div>
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</font><div align="center"><b><i>National Federation of the Blind
Expresses Outrage, Demands Swift Action<br>
</i></b></div>
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</font><b>Baltimore, Maryland (May 19, 2011):</b> A study that has just
been published online in the journal
<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0740624X"><i>
Government Information Quarterly</a></i> 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.<br><br>
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.”<br>
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</font>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
<a href="http://www.usajobs.gov">www.usajobs.gov</a> and
<a href="http://www.ready.gov">www.ready.gov</a>. 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. <br>
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</font>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. <br>
<font face="Garamond"> <br>
</font>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.<br>
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<br>
</font><b>About the National Federation of the Blind<br>
</b><br>
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. <br>
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