{"id":8705,"date":"2019-04-17T16:20:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brainstation.io\/?p=8705"},"modified":"2020-06-01T09:07:31","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T13:07:31","slug":"what-is-section-508-compliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-section-508-compliance","title":{"rendered":"What is Section 508 Compliance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve written about why companies should be investing in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-web-accessibility-and-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">web accessibility<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and if you\u2019ve embarked on that process, you might have heard the terms \u201cSection 508\u201d or \u201c508 compliance.\u201d If you\u2019re not sure what that means, you\u2019re not alone. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take a closer look at Section 508 compliance. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is Section 508? <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Section 508 officially refers to a series of amendments made to the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These amendments, made in 1986 and 1998, require federal agencies to make their information and communications technology (ICT) accessible to people with disabilities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to these materials must be in a \u201ccomparable manner to the access experienced by employees and members of the public without disabilities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The guidelines affect all federal agencies and vendors, contractors, and partners of those agencies and require them to \u201cdevelop, procure, maintain, and use\u201d ICT that is accessible to people with disabilities \u2013 regardless of whether or not they work for the federal government. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The amendments also created enforcement measures to ensure compliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What Does ICT Cover?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Officially, ICT includes \u201cinformation technology and other equipment, systems, technologies, or processes, for which the principal function is the creation, manipulation, storage, display, receipt, or transmission of electronic data and information, as well as any associated content.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This obviously covers a lot of ground, so for clarity sake, here are some examples of what ICT includes:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Call centers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Copiers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DVDs and CDs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internet and intranet sites<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laptops<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online training<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PDF documents<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remote accessibility<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Software <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Telephones and smartphones<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tablets <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Televisions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User guides and manuals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Webinars and teleconferencing<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These types of tools and platforms are included so that federal employees with disabilities are able to do their work and access relevant resources. To that end, the guidelines were given updated in 2017 to better reflect innovations in communication technology. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Laws and Amendments Related to Section 508<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Section 508 does not apply, you may still be required to adhere to related guidelines and laws, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Section 501<\/strong> of the Rehabilitation Act, which prevents discriminating against disabled employees. It also protects individuals who are looking for work. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Section 504<\/strong>, which prohibits discrimination of disabled people by federal agencies and recipients of federal assistance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Section 505<\/strong>, which is closely related to Section 501 in preventing employers from discriminating against disabled employees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also other prominent laws that are associated with the amendments above: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Americans with Disabilities Act<\/strong>, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Section 255 of The Communications Act<\/strong>, which requires telecommunications products and services to be accessible to all disabled people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>21<\/strong><\/span><strong>st<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong> Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act<\/strong> of 2010, requiring advanced communications services and products to be accessible by disabled.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the number of guidelines and laws in place, it\u2019s a good idea to invest in web accessibility. Apart from adhering with the law, it\u2019s simply good business. Nearly 19 percent of Americans have some form of disability, and when you fail to accommodate these users, you are limiting the size and scope of your audience. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more with BrainStation&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/course\/online\/web-accessibility\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Web Accessibility training courses<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your website compliant with federal regulations? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[586],"tags":[846,587],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Section 508 Compliance? | BrainStation\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you&#039;re investing in web accessibility, you might have heard the terms \u201cSection 508\u201d or \u201c508 compliance.\u201d If you\u2019re not sure what that means, you\u2019re not alone. 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