The Impact of Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility

1
The Impact of Electronic and Information
Technology Accessibility
Presented by Kristin Iden, Senior IT
Consultant Advanced Automated Consulting Columbia,
SC

• Building a Business Case for Accessibility

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What is Electronic Information Technology?

• Quick definition Electronic and Information
  Technology (EIT) can be defined as any
  technology that has a chip, a plug, and an
  interface
• Includes computers, software, telephones, fax
  machines, kiosks, printers, etc.

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What is EIT Accessibility?

• Simply put, agencies must give disabled employees
  and members of the public access to information
  that is comparable to the access available to
  others.

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What Impairments are Included?

• Blind/Low Vision
• Mobility Impaired
• Deaf
• Cognitive disorders
• Photo Epilepsy
• Age-related processes

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Defining Accessibility

• Accessibility, as defined by the South Carolina
  Assistive Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC)
  under guidance from the Division of the State
  Chief Information Officer, includes
• Laws
• 29 U.S.C. 794d, also known as Section 508
• Guidelines
• United States Access Board Architecture and
  EIT
• World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) Accessibility
  Guidelines Web Specific

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Defining Accessibility Part 2

• Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of
  1973, which is comprised of many sections that
  deal with disability.
• Section 508 was given additional teeth in 1998 by
  the passage of the Workforce Investment Act
• Section 508 ultimately traces its roots (both
  politically and in jurisprudence) to the Civil
  Rights Act 1964

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How Important Is It?

• The following Federal Agencies have set up a
  Program Management Office (PMO) for
  Accessibility
• Department of Homeland Security
• The Internal Revenue Service
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Department of Justice
• General Services Administration
• Office of Personnel Management
• DoD
• Additionally, every Federal agency is required to
  have a Section 508 coordinator to handle
  Accessibility issues for the agency

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Why Does it Concern You?

• If you ignore Accessibility, side effects could
  include
• Consumer complaint
• Consumer lawsuit
• EEO lawsuit
• Loss of revenue

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Who needs Accessibility?

• In December 1997, based on a census taken during
  the fourmonth period of October 1994 to January
  1995, the U.S. Department of Commerces Bureau of
  Census reported that 1 in 5 Americans or (54
  million people), have some kind of disability.
• This is about 20 percent of all U.S. citizens,
  which comprises a larger minority population than
  African Americans (approximately 30 million at
  that time).

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The Statistics

• Additionally, the same report highlighted the
  following breakdown of those same statistics
• 1 in 10 Americans has a severe disability
• Among children aged 614, 1 in 8 have some type
  of disability
• 1 in 2 Americans 65 years and older has a
  disability
• 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 15 and 64
  has a disability

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Assistive Technology
Screen Reading Software for the Visually Impaired
Refreshable Braille Display
Mobility Impaired User Using Mouthstick
TTY for the Hearing Impaired
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The Business Case for Accessibility

• Build Accessible Buy Accessible
• Assess current offerings
• Are our current Web sites and products
  accessible?
• If not, what are we doing to make them
  accessible?
• Do we have a posted Accessibility policy?
• Do we have written Accessibility standards?
• Assess short-term purchases/development
• Are we building accessible Web Sites?
• Are our vendors required to deliver accessible
  products and do they understand our definition of
  accessibility?
• Assess long-term strategic goals and other
  mandates
• Are we including line-items to make sure all our
  future efforts include accessibility?

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The Cost of Doing Business

• Does it make sense to shut out over 20 of our
  population by not making Web sites and
  applications accessible?
• Additional development time for new products is
  1-2 of overall development
• Upfront costs include preliminary evaluation,
  remediation plans, training

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Benefits of Accessible Web Sites

• Better overall usability by ALL users
• Technology upgrade Accessible technology is
  compatible with emerging technology
• Compliance with the State mandates and with
  Federal laws
• Great PR for your organization
• Savings in service delivery
• Increase of ROI in current Web applications

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SC DOR and Accessibility

• Starting in June 2006, DOR evaluated
• All external Web sites and applications, internal
  applications and intranet
• Finalized Preliminary Evaluation Report
• Finalized Remediation Plan
• Created Training Plan
• Trained all developers and content providers
• Provided awareness sessions to managers
• Purchased and installed Accessibility software
• Drafted Accessibility Standards and Policy

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What Else?

• Remember Accessibility is more than just web
  sites. Includes computers, software, phones,
  calculators, printers, copiers, etc.
• Look at vendor evaluation and include
  Accessibility criteria as part of the contract

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For More Information

• www.section508.gov
• www.access-board.gov
• www.w3.org
• www.webaim.org/intro/

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Wrapping Up

• Questions?
• Comments?
• General Discussion?