RE: Accessibility

[Note: This message continues the content of the "Accessibility" thread,
but within the w3c-wai-ig list only. For a comment on the issue of using
the list to cc to large numbers of people, see previous message at
<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/1998OctDec/0522.html>.]

Hi Mike,

No it doesn't sound like splitting hairs. 

However, the US Federal Government is very clearly covered by Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act, which applies to all Information Technology (IT)
procurement by the Federal Government, and, by extension through the "Tech
Act," Section 508 applies to State Government IT procurement as well. So
there is no lack of obligation in the US for Federal & State entities to
have their Web sites accessible.

Robert, since Mike Muehe's message as well as yours went to the large cc
field, you may want to follow up with those folks -- separately from this
list please -- to provide further clarification as needed.

Regards,

Judy


At 03:41 PM 12/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello:
>
>I hope this doesn't seem like I'm splitting hairs, but the 
>Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not apply to the 
>Federal government. Agencies of the Federal government are 
>covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 
>Section 504 does contain requirements for communication access 
>similar to those found in Title II of the ADA.
>
>> For your information, the American Disabilities Act requires Federal, State
>> and Local governments to be accessible to everyone.  I would hope that this
>> category could be included.
>> 
>> As a subscriber, I am interested in accessibility because my customer is a
>> Federal Agency. <snip>
>
>==========================
>Michael Muehe
>Executive Director / ADA Coordinator
>Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities
>51 Inman Street, second floor
>Cambridge, MA 02139  USA
>617-349-6297 voice
>617-492-0235 TTY
>617-349-4766 fax
>www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/~CCPD
>
>"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys which distract our
>attention from serious things." -- Henry David Thoreau
>
_________________________________________________________________________
Judy Brewer    jbrewer@w3.org    +1.617.258.9741    http://www.w3.org/WAI
Director, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) International Program Office
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

WAI Interest Group home page: http://www.w3.org/WAI/IG
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Received on Tuesday, 29 December 1998 17:19:50 UTC