RE: Disability statistics

Well 508 as far i can see is the legislation in the US which requires people
dealing with the federal US gove to have accessible sites and software.
It spells out what they have to do as a set of regulations many of which are
based on WAI standards but they have made a few not so useful changes.
In New Zealand I think you are a bit like Australia and have seperate
disability legislation which enables people to complain about being
discriminated against if they cannot access goods or services and this
should cover Web sites.
The draft NZ govvt guidlenes are here
http://www.e-government.govt.nz/guidelines/web-guidelines/web-guidelines-v1-
viewable/guidelinesintro.html


Harry Woodrow

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>> When I know how to build accessible sites, I have the democratic duty to
build them, no matter what it costs.

Ineke I couldn't agree more. Cost-benefit is a red herring. It doesn't take
all that much thought to make a site accessible and the web community should
be setting the standards rather than treating it as another market. Wouldn't
it make more sense to build it into everything we do rather than treating it
as an "add-on"?

Could someone please explain to us non-US types what 508 implies? TIA.

Rowan
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Received on Sunday, 16 December 2001 10:01:06 UTC