The Law: Section 508
If you are reading this then you are likely already interested in the topic of accessibility and want to do what is best for your learners. It is worth reviewing some of the legal aspects that led to these requirements...
In the past, PK-12 practitioners have not always implemented Section 508 accommodations unless they work with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and/or have students with an IEP. However, with 4 to 6 percent of all students classified as having specific learning disabilities in U.S. public schools, every teacher (online/blended/face-to-face) can expect to find students with learning disabilities in the classroom (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2012). At a minimum, a teacher using the Internet for part of their education program is advised to be aware of the Section 508 guidelines and implement key practices related to accessibility. Later sections of this Module provide more specific details and recommendations for implementing key accessibility practices like Closed Captioning.
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all website content be equally accessible to people with disabilities. This applies to web applications, web pages and all attached files. It applies to intranet as well as public-facing web pages. Section 508 also applies to online and blended learning due to the use of the Internet and websites to access learning. In 1986, Section 508 was originally added as an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The original section 508 dealt with electronic and information technologies, in recognition of the growth in this field (Wikipedia, 2012).
Please view this brief video from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on accessibility. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.
Section 508 Technical Standards
- Software Applications and Operating Systems: Includes usability for people that are visually impaired. This can be accomplished by using keyboard navigation options, hotkeys, and mouseover functions.
- Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications: Assures accessibility to web page graphics by the visually impaired using assistive technology such as screen readers and refreshable Braille
displays. This is accomplished by using alternative text and descriptors for graphics and style elements for headers.
- Videos or Multimedia Products: Includes requirements for captioning of multimedia products such as training or informational multimedia productions. This can be accomplished by ensuring videos are captioned and have a transcript available. Keep in mind that a transcript for a video is not equivalent to captioning the video. Try watching a video with no sound first and then reading the transcript and see for yourself. You'll notice that they mention videos that are live streamed. Keep that in mind too if you're doing webinars or presentations, it can be costly for those live video captioning. As suggested elsewhere, captioning existing videos can be done on your own, or relatively inexpensively using a service like Rev.com.
A more complete list can be found at Section508.gov.
So, the good news is, that if you are designing (or updating) your content the way it will be suggested in the pages that follow, then you will be well on your way to making your content accessible.
This page on 508 Compliance by Jon Fila at Intermediate District 287 is licensed CC-BY-NC-SA. Based on a work from Leading Edge partners: @One, iNACOL