508 and the Computer Industry

1
508 and the Computer Industry

• Rex Lint, Chair
• ITAA
• Section 508 Working Group
• April 17, 2001

2
Whats ITAA?

• Information Technology Association of America, a
  Trade association
• Members - from the biggest Adobe, Oracle,
  Unisys, IBM, Lucent, Compaq, EDS, DMR, Microsoft,
  AOL, HP, Sun, Novell, AMS, KPMG, SAIC to the
  smallest Rex Lint, Consultant
• ITAA members range from software, IT services,
  ASP, digital content, systems integration,
  telecommunications, and enterprise solution
  fields
• provides global public policy and national
  leadership to promote the continued rapid growth
  of the IT industry
• 500 direct and 26,000 affiliate corporate members
  throughout the U.S.
• global network of 41 countries' IT associations
• industry concerns include information security
  and privacy, taxes and finance policy, digital
  intellectual property protection,
  telecommunications competition, immigration,
  government IT procurement, e-commerce policy.

3
Disability Facts

• 54 Million Americans have disabilities.
• 1 in 3 American families have at lease one member
  with a disability.
• Many of these people have the time and the
  inclination to use IT

4
The US Government - a Bully Market

• The government buys 37B worth of IT a year,
  about 10 of the US IT market.
• The law requiring accessibility is intended to
  drive these features into the mainline products,
  benefitting people with disabilities and making
  computers more usable for us all.
• Industry wants to be sure that the government
  buying process will not be interrupted in the
  transition to 508.

5
Exceptions

• There are 5 exceptions under which 508 does not
  apply Section 508 does not apply if the EIT
• Is purchased in accordance with the rule on
  micro-purchases (until 2003)
• Is for a national security system
• Is acquired by a contractor incidental to a
  contract
• Is located in spaces frequented only by service
  personnel for maintenance, or
• Would impose an undue burden on the agency
• Note 1194.5 Equivalent facilitation While not
  an exception, this section says alternatives to
  the technical standards can be used if they
  provide substantially equivalent or greater
  accessfor people with disabilities.

6
Exceptions (contd)

• Undue burden further broken into components
• Basis. In determining whether accessibility
  standards would be an undue burden, an agency
  must consider
• (i) The difficulty or expense of compliance and
• (ii) Agency resources available to its program or
  component for which the supply or service is
  being acquired.
• Undue Burden Documentation.
• (i) The requiring official must document an undue
  burden decision and provide the documentation to
  the contracting officer for inclusion in the
  contract file.
• (ii) When acquiring commercial items, an undue
  burden determination is not required to address
  standards that are not yet available in the
  commercial marketplace in time to meet the agency
  delivery requirements. The requiring official
  must document the nonavailability and provide the
  documentation to the contracting officer for
  inclusion in the contract file.

7
Industry Activity

• Participated in defining Standards
• Commented on Rules
• Access Board standards
• FAR
• Raising Awareness
• GSA seminars
• Industry seminars
• Standards
• Starting practices on accessibility
• Competing using accessibility as a feature - some
  vendors will insist you include 508 requirements!

8
Determining Compliance

• The FAR is not complete yet
• Compliance is subjective. Most vendors describe
  features, let buyer determine if this complies
  in their use.
• Vendors do not have bandwidth to answer every
  question from every developer of every agency.
  Some are using FAQs on web sites
• Debate on compliance standards -
• Easier to measure
• limits innovation
• specifies boundaries between vendors AT from IT

9
Other Industry Concerns

• Disruption of purchasing process
• State standards that differ from 508
• International standards that differ from 508
• Certification process that lengthens development
  cycle
• Onerous warranty requirements (false claims act)

10
Resources

• ITAAs Sect. 508 Working Group www.itaa.org/softwa
  re/sec508.htm
• The LAW www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/508law.html
• The STANDARD www.access-board.gov/news/508-final.
  htmMichael F. Mason and Rex C. Lint, Section
  508 of the Rehabilitation Act An Overview and
  Analysis, Bureau of National Affairs, Federal
  Contracts Report (May 30, 2000)
• The FAR www.section508.gov/docs/FARCase1999-607.h
  tm
• Accessibility Forum adit.aticorp.org/accessibilit
  y-forum/reg-announcement.html
• Rex Lint Phone [phone], E-mail
  Rex_at_Lint.mv.comMike Mason Phone [phone]
  E-mail MFMason_at_HHLaw.com

11
Disabilities and Accessibility
Assistive Technology

• For each of the classes of disabilities there are
  a number of strategies used to cope with the
  difficulty regarding IT accessibility imposed by
  the disability. These strategies may
• be implemented in the application,
• be supported by the operating system, or
• require the installation of software and/or
  attachment of hardware which may or may not be
  transparent to application software.
• The classification of different abilities of
  users and the tools they use to compensate for
  the difficulties they encounter are
• Ability to see the computer screen
• Ability to use a keyboard
• Ability to use a mouse
• Ability to interact with information
• Ability to physically manipulate IT equipment

12
Disabilities and Accessibility
Assistive Technology

• The classification of different abilities of
  users and the tools they use to compensate for
  the difficulties they encounter are