Title: The Impact of Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility
1The Impact of Electronic and Information
Technology Accessibility
Presented by Kristin Iden, Senior IT
Consultant Advanced Automated Consulting Columbia,
SC
- Building a Business Case for Accessibility
2What is Electronic Information Technology?
- Quick definition Electronic and Information
Technology (EIT) can be defined as any
technology that has a chip, a plug, and an
interface - Includes computers, software, telephones, fax
machines, kiosks, printers, etc.
3What is EIT Accessibility?
- Simply put, agencies must give disabled employees
and members of the public access to information
that is comparable to the access available to
others.
4What Impairments are Included?
- Blind/Low Vision
- Mobility Impaired
- Deaf
- Cognitive disorders
- Photo Epilepsy
- Age-related processes
5Defining Accessibility
- Accessibility, as defined by the South Carolina
Assistive Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC)
under guidance from the Division of the State
Chief Information Officer, includes - Laws
- 29 U.S.C. 794d, also known as Section 508
- Guidelines
- United States Access Board Architecture and
EIT - World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) Accessibility
Guidelines Web Specific
6Defining Accessibility Part 2
- Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973, which is comprised of many sections that
deal with disability. -
- Section 508 was given additional teeth in 1998 by
the passage of the Workforce Investment Act - Section 508 ultimately traces its roots (both
politically and in jurisprudence) to the Civil
Rights Act 1964
7How Important Is It?
- The following Federal Agencies have set up a
Program Management Office (PMO) for
Accessibility - Department of Homeland Security
- The Internal Revenue Service
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Justice
- General Services Administration
- Office of Personnel Management
- DoD
- Additionally, every Federal agency is required to
have a Section 508 coordinator to handle
Accessibility issues for the agency
8Why Does it Concern You?
- If you ignore Accessibility, side effects could
include - Consumer complaint
- Consumer lawsuit
- EEO lawsuit
- Loss of revenue
9Who needs Accessibility?
- In December 1997, based on a census taken during
the fourmonth period of October 1994 to January
1995, the U.S. Department of Commerces Bureau of
Census reported that 1 in 5 Americans or (54
million people), have some kind of disability. - This is about 20 percent of all U.S. citizens,
which comprises a larger minority population than
African Americans (approximately 30 million at
that time).
10The Statistics
- Additionally, the same report highlighted the
following breakdown of those same statistics - 1 in 10 Americans has a severe disability
- Among children aged 614, 1 in 8 have some type
of disability - 1 in 2 Americans 65 years and older has a
disability - 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 15 and 64
has a disability
11Assistive Technology
Screen Reading Software for the Visually Impaired
Refreshable Braille Display
Mobility Impaired User Using Mouthstick
TTY for the Hearing Impaired
12The Business Case for Accessibility
- Build Accessible Buy Accessible
- Assess current offerings
- Are our current Web sites and products
accessible? - If not, what are we doing to make them
accessible? - Do we have a posted Accessibility policy?
- Do we have written Accessibility standards?
- Assess short-term purchases/development
- Are we building accessible Web Sites?
- Are our vendors required to deliver accessible
products and do they understand our definition of
accessibility? - Assess long-term strategic goals and other
mandates - Are we including line-items to make sure all our
future efforts include accessibility?
13The Cost of Doing Business
- Does it make sense to shut out over 20 of our
population by not making Web sites and
applications accessible? - Additional development time for new products is
1-2 of overall development - Upfront costs include preliminary evaluation,
remediation plans, training
14Benefits of Accessible Web Sites
- Better overall usability by ALL users
- Technology upgrade Accessible technology is
compatible with emerging technology - Compliance with the State mandates and with
Federal laws - Great PR for your organization
- Savings in service delivery
- Increase of ROI in current Web applications
15SC DOR and Accessibility
- Starting in June 2006, DOR evaluated
- All external Web sites and applications, internal
applications and intranet - Finalized Preliminary Evaluation Report
- Finalized Remediation Plan
- Created Training Plan
- Trained all developers and content providers
- Provided awareness sessions to managers
- Purchased and installed Accessibility software
- Drafted Accessibility Standards and Policy
16What Else?
- Remember Accessibility is more than just web
sites. Includes computers, software, phones,
calculators, printers, copiers, etc. - Look at vendor evaluation and include
Accessibility criteria as part of the contract
17For More Information
- www.section508.gov
- www.access-board.gov
- www.w3.org
- www.webaim.org/intro/
18Wrapping Up
- Questions?
- Comments?
- General Discussion?