 Section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits
federal agencies from procuring, developing, maintaining, or using EIT
(electronic and information technology) that is inaccessible to people with
disabilities, subject to an undue burden defense. "Undue burden"
generally means a significant difficulty or expense:
When developing, procuring, maintaining, or
using electronic and information technology, each Federal department or
agency, including the United States Postal Service, shall ensure, unless an
undue burden would be imposed on the department or agency, that the electronic
and information technology allows, regardless of the type of medium of the
technology--
(i) individuals with disabilities who are
Federal employees to have access to and use of information and data that is
comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by Federal
employees who are not individuals with disabilities; and
(ii) individuals with disabilities who are
members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal
department or agency to have access to and use of information and data that is
comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by such
members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities.
Section 508 was drafted before effective speech
recognition was available. However, Section 508 is reviewed constantly. The 2000
review recommended that the Federal government explore buying multiple licenses
for voice recognition technology to install on all agencies' interactive
telephone systems.
Section 508 has not yet been applied to most
software applications but groundwork is being done now. A sizable majority of
the software applications used most frequently by agencies are commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) applications used without agency modification. Almost all
software applications contained some barriers to some people with disabilities.
Most applications, however, provided a fair degree of accessibility to most
people with disabilities. Among the communities most likely to face significant
barriers are those who are blind, those with low vision, and those with multiple
disabilities. Already government agencies are requesting programming
"fixes" of barriers.
Voice recognition is emerging as an excellent
and cost-effective approach to implement Section 508 needs. Voice command and
control interfaces can do double duty: making applications available to people
with disabilities while at the same time making the application available for
general voice-driven use from telephone, handheld and tablet.
Links:
Visit
www.section508.gov
Read
about Speech-enabled Applications
Read about
SpeechStudio speech tools for software developers
|
