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Among other mandates, Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public without disabilities.

Accessibility and PDFs

Here's a handy guide for making PDFs more accessible and searchable. Gives hints on making better source documents, as well as settings in the PDF:

Bevi's online tutorials and articles:

Bevi's articles at www.CommunityMX.com about PDFs and 508-Accessibility:

Resources for Accessibility Information

For information about accessibility, guidelines and related topics:

  • Federal IT Accessibility Initiative — www.section508.gov
  • "Section 508 Compliance: Not a Simple YES or NO" (article from fedmarket.com)
  • Q&A about Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 —
    www.access-board.gov/sec508/FAQ.htm
  • www.section508.gov/docs/Final99607A.htm
  • www.usability.gov/index.html
  • Accessibility Forum Website Homepage: participants come from over 300 organizations that include electronic and information technology industry, assistive technology industry, advocacy associations for people with disabilities, academic, research, and standards groups, and government procurement and information technology representatives.
  • This testbed for testing tools help detect Section 508 1194.22 violations in websites: http://projects.accessibilityforum.org/demos/. These example pages were collected by Accessibility Forum staff members to evaluate freeware and commercial automated Section 508 webpage checkers. This site is a collection of webpages in which each page violates one or more particular provision (a - p) within the 1194.22 clause.
  • User Agent Accessibility Guidelines set up by the World Wide Web Consortium — www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-UAAG10-20010409.
  • The Trace Research & Development Center is a part of the College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Founded in 1971, Trace has been a pioneer in the field of technology and disability. Its resource page, Designing More Usable Web Sites, is extremely thorough.
  • Macromedia's Accessibility Resource Center includes Section 508 Web Development Guidelines, templates, free example code and more.
  • Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM)'s goal is to improve accessibility to online learning opportunities for all people; in particular to improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities who currently may have a difficult time getting access to postsecondary online learning opportunities. The site includes articles, tutorials, tips, and more.
  • A thorough example of established software requirements to ensure the accessibility of its programs and activities to individuals with disabilities has been created by The Department of Education: http://ocfo.ed.gov/coninfo/clibrary/software.htm
  • "Accessibility Strategies and Technical Solutions," an article by Diane Boettcher, Knowledge Management Engineer with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) working in support of the Naval Network Operations Command. She discusses determining a compliance strategy and then works through the standards one-by-one, showing possible technical solutions to the standards. This helpful article was written for DC Web Women and appears on their site:. http://www.dcwebwomen.org/hotshot/020330.html

For information about accessibility hardware and software:

Where to test your website:
       
     
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