RE: Section 508 Auditing

Ø  Office of Civil Rights

And for clarification for those on the list that might not be familiar you are speaking about the Office of Civil Rights within the US Department of Education.  There are offices of civil rights in different agencies such as Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to name a few – there is no general Office of Civil Rights that resides at the department or agency level.

Jonathan

Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
Level Access
jon.avila@levelaccess.com<mailto:jon.avila@levelaccess.com>
703.637.8957 office

Visit us online:
Website<http://www.levelaccess.com/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/LevelAccessA11y> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/LevelAccessA11y/> | LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/level-access> | Blog<http://www.levelaccess.com/blog/>

Looking to boost your accessibility knowledge? Check out our free webinars!<https://www.levelaccess.com/compliance-resources/webinars/>

The information contained in this transmission may be attorney privileged and/or confidential information intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.

From: Kelly Childs [mailto:kelly@schoolwebmasters.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 9:15 AM
To: Batusic, Mario
Cc: Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org; Steve Green
Subject: Re: Section 508 Auditing

Sorry about that. I was referring to the Office of Civil Rights. Our audit clients typically have requested an audit because they received a complaint from the Office of Civil Rights in the US. For those who have not received a complaint, we still provide them with the same information so they are able to make an informed decision on their own.

Thanks!

On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 6:05 AM, Batusic, Mario <mario.batusic@fabasoft.com<mailto:mario.batusic@fabasoft.com>> wrote:
Hi Steeve, Kelly, All

Thanks a lot for the Info you provided: it will help me to find the right auditor organization.

@Kelly: What does it mean “OCR” in this context? I know only Optical Character Recognition under this Abbr.

Thanks.

Mario

Von: Kelly Childs <kelly@schoolwebmasters.com<mailto:kelly@schoolwebmasters.com>>
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 10. Oktober 2018 14:44
An: Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile <chaals@yandex.ru<mailto:chaals@yandex.ru>>
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>; Steve Green <steve.green@testpartners.co.uk<mailto:steve.green@testpartners.co.uk>>
Betreff: Re: Section 508 Auditing

There are no "listed requirements." For our audit clients, we submit a document stating what we believe qualifies us. It basically states what we feel makes us an expert in accessibility standards including our methodology and experience. I definitely recommend using someone who uses actual disabled users to perform testing. OCR approves us as an auditor and then we complete the audit. I recommend asking any company or individual you look at to provide you with their qualifications and then decide which one you feel is most qualified. If for some reason they are not qualified, OCR would not approve them as an auditor.

Hope this helps!

On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 3:43 AM, Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile <chaals@yandex.ru<mailto:chaals@yandex.ru>> wrote:
On Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:17:59 +0200, Steve Green <steve.green@testpartners.co.uk<mailto:steve.green@testpartners.co.uk>> wrote:
I am not aware of any requirement for the auditor organization be a US company.

There is no requirement for an auditor - so no requirements on who the auditor is...

cheers

We are a UK company and we have done Section 508 audits in the past, even when the testing requirements were different from WCAG..

A VPAT would be the obvious way to report the level of compliance. There isn’t a standard format for a VPAT but all the ones I have seen are largely similar. We took the best parts of everyone else’s to make ours – I’m happy to share it if that’s useful. There are lots on the web if you do a search, but be aware that VPATs are used for all sorts of ICT systems, not just web applications, so some will contain a lot of stuff you don’t need.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


From: Batusic, Mario <mario.batusic@fabasoft.com<mailto:mario.batusic@fabasoft.com>>
Sent: 10 October 2018 09:17
To: Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile <chaals@yandex.ru<mailto:chaals@yandex.ru>>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: AW: Section 508 Auditing

Hi Chaals,

Thanks a lot. That is not so nice from the US Gov that I have now to gues, who knos his job and hwo does’nt.

Still an other question: Must the auditor organization be an US Company to be accepted?

Mario

Von: Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile <chaals@yandex.ru<mailto:chaals@yandex.ru>>
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 10. Oktober 2018 09:53
An: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>; Batusic, Mario <mario.batusic@fabasoft.com<mailto:mario.batusic@fabasoft.com>>
Betreff: Re: Section 508 Auditing

On Wed, 10 Oct 2018 08:19:50 +0200, Batusic, Mario <mario.batusic@fabasoft.com<mailto:mario.batusic@fabasoft.com>> wrote:
Hello,

I have two questions:

  1.  Do I understand right the updated Section 508 from the year 2017 that adopts WCAG 2.0 A and AA as the measure for the accessibility of websites and web apps?


I think that is the gist of it. You should check of course.


  1.  What is the way for a company to successfully show, that its web app is accessible according to Section 508?
I think there is no Sect508 certificate available? Who should audit our web app so that the evaluation results are confident and accepted in USA?

Somebody who undestands what they are doing. I don't know that there is a list of "accepted suppliers", for certification, so you have to do your due diligence yourself.

It would be good if there were people who clearly used an agreed methodology and for whom you could get reviews.

As a quick start, anyone who uses an entirely automated process (with no human help) is unlikely to do a good evaluation, and anyone who doesn't use any tooling to look at your entire site might risk costing more money than necessary.

There are a number of accessibility companies that are W3C members partivipating in the work of *defining* WCAG. That doesn't prove they know what they are doing and that they do it well, but it is certainly a good sign, in my opinion. (There are also accessibility consultants who for one reason or other do not do that but are good...)

Sorry the answer is so vague. That's how it is...

cheers

Chaals


Thanks a lot in advance.

Mario




Mario Batusic
Accessibility Engineer

www.fabasoft.com<http://www.fabasoft.com/>

Tel.:              +43 732 606162-0
E-Mail:         mario.batusic@fabasoft.com<mailto:mario.batusic@fabasoft.com>


[cid:image002.png@01D33D3F.50086DC0]

Twitter<https://twitter.com/fabasoft> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/fabasoft/> | Google+<https://plus.google.com/+FabasoftCloud?hl=de> | YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/user/FabasoftCloud>

Fabasoft R&D GmbH, Honauerstraße 4<https://maps.google.com/?q=Honauerstra%C3%9Fe+4+%0D%0A+4020+Linz,+%C3%96sterreich&entry=gmail&source=g>
4020 Linz, Österreich<https://maps.google.com/?q=Honauerstra%C3%9Fe+4+%0D%0A+4020+Linz,+%C3%96sterreich&entry=gmail&source=g> | Handelsgericht Linz, FN 190091x


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/




--
Kelly Childs
Director of Website Accessibility

888.750.4556, option 7

[Das Bild wurde vom Absender entfernt.  Visit School Webmasters Social Sites]<http://www.schoolwebmasters.com/Contact_Us>




--
Kelly Childs
Director of Website Accessibility

888.750.4556, option 7

[Visit School Webmasters Social Sites]<http://www.schoolwebmasters.com/Contact_Us>