Section 508 Refresh — Is your website affected?
Overview
Section 508 requires that technology procured, developed, maintained, or used by the federal government is accessible to people with disabilities.
In January 2017, the United States Access Board published an update to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are required to meet Section 508 for your website, you have until January 2018 to update your site to comply with the new standards.
Who does Section 508 affect?
It’s a bit complicated. But section 508 likely applies to any technology (including websites) you procure, develop, or maintain with funds from the federal (and sometimes state) government.
You see, section 508 accessibility guidelines were written to apply to “electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the federal government.” For example, websites developed or maintained for the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would have to be 508 compliant.
But the application of these guidelines has broadened over time. Several federal agencies (including the Department of Education) have interpreted section 508 to also require state services that receive federal assistance to comply with the guidelines. Since all states receive federal funding under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by state governments can also fall under section 508. For example, state-run college websites must be 508 compliant because they receive funding from the Department of Education. Likewise, insurance companies that receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid must have compliant websites.
In addition, many states (such as Arizona, Nebraska, and Wisconsin) have also codified section 508 as state law. So any technology created by or for these state governments is also affected, even if federal funds are not involved.
What’s the deadline to be in compliance?
January 18, 2018. At that point, your website must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 A and AA standards that were developed by the W3C, instead of the legacy Section 508 standards.
If your website complies with the older Section 508 standards and remains unchanged after 1/18/2018, it is granted safe harbor and no penalties are assessed. However, safe harbor expires as soon as any updates are posted to the website. After the update, the newer WCAG requirements will apply immediately.
I don’t think we’re in compliance. What should I do?
The first step is to audit your website to identify exactly where you are out of compliance. Once you have identified your gaps with the standards, you can prioritize the issues and develop a remediation plan.
There are many online tools and resources that can help your team through this complicated and time-consuming process. Or you can hire an accessibility expert to handle it for you.
What is different about the old standards and the new standards?
You will see a comparison chart published by the United States Access Board, showing the similarities and differences between the standards.
