Effective June 21, 2001, all information technology purchased by the Federal Government, or provided to the public by the government, must be assessable as measured by those Section 508 Standards.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) has made a commitment to support its obligation Under Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, to ensure the accessibility of its web sites to individuals with disabilities.

• "508" is shorthand for section 508 of the amended Rehabilitation Act of 1998.
• This law extends to the World Wide Web the same legal guarantees of access that all physical public amenities must provide.
• Mandatory law which requires that Federal Web sites (Internal and External) must make their content and function available to people with motor, visual or auditory disabilities.
• Section 508 identifies standards for accessible Web pages.
• December 21, 2000, the Access Board posted their Final Guidelines and Standards for 508 Accessibility.
• Date for mandatory compliancy for accessibility guidelines is June 21, 2001.
• As agencies build, development, procure, and/or enhance their current website, they must comply with these guidelines.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) - About Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998.
• A consolidation of Section 508 acquisition-related FAQ's that have been posed by agencies, contractors, and members of the disability community.

508 Accessibility Reference List

• Section 508 Facts-Brochure
• Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, final rule version
• Summary of the Standards
• Section 508 Background and Overview

Web Accessibility Tools:

• Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF)
  • Adobe Systems, Inc., provides a free translation service through their Access Web pages, which will translate PDF files to web pages (HTML documents).
  • Free MakeAccessible plug-in for Acrobat 5.0 (Windows only) enables creation of tagged Adobe PDF files from untagged PDF files. Tagged Adobe PDDF files can be read by a screen reader for greater accessibility, allow document reflow, and can be saved as Rich Text Format (RTF).
• Big Shot: Software for the visually impaired
• Color Blindness: Design Hints and Tips
• Communication and Information Technology Resources
• Usability.Gov, a part of the National Cancer Institute, has prepared and maintains a Federal-government related Usability Website. IHS web developers must follow these guidelines.
• Photoshop plug in filter allows you to simulate how graphics looks to people with various sorts of color deficiencies problems. This is a free download and is simple to use.
• World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) "Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)":
  The WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, is pursuing accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education & outreach, and research and development. Excellent guidance for designing web accessible sites and includes HTML coding examples and checklists.

Section 508 Tutorial

• Web Accessibility for Section 508
• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• IBM Accessibility Center

Section 508 Checklists

Web Development

• A "Pass" "Fail" Checklist
• A "Quantitative (Algorithmic)" "Qualitative (Judgment)" Checklist: "Quantitative" items are ones that could be checked with a computer program. "Qualitative" items require human involvement
• IBM Web Accessibility: Checklist and links to detailed explanations, techniques and test strategies for each checkpoint.

Testing Tools (Alphabetical Listing)

• Automated testing methods are generally quick and convenient but cannot identify all accessibility issues.
• Therefore, it is advisable to use more than one validation tool.
• Human review is essential to help test various Section 508 Guidelines.

Free Automated Accessibility Tools

• Bobby:
  Analyzes web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities as well as their compativility with various browsers.
• The Lynx Viewer:
  Generates an HTML page that emulates how much of the content of your page would be available to a text-only browser.
  Go the Lynx Viewer Web and enter the URL of the Web page you want to view.
• The Wave:
  A tool to help perform tasks that require human judgment
  Displays the ALT text of images and AREAS on the page for comparison with the images.
  Provides numbered arrows to show the reading order and the HTML equivalent (if any) provided for applets.
  Helps determine how useful your Web content would be for a visually impaired person.
  Good indicator for how the page may appear to a user with older technology.
  The WAVE provides the means to place a validation button" on the button bar of your browser. Mouse click on the button to obtain an immediate validation report for the page being viewed.
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI):
  Evaluation, Repair, and Transformation Tools for Web Content Accessibility

If you have any questions on this document, please contact webmaster@ihs.gov or call Joye Howe, 505-248-4171.