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DHS Section 508 Compliance Test Processes

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Accessible Systems & Technology (OAST) has a mission to provide strategic direction, technical support, and training to ensure agency employees and customers with disabilities have equal access to information and data.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d), requires all federal departments and agencies to ensure that their electronic information & technology (EIT) is accessible to people with disabilities.

Accessibility Tests for Software and Web

Harmonized Testing Process for Section 508 Compliance

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) accessibility teams collaborated to create the Harmonized Testing Process for Section 508 Compliance: Baseline Tests for Software and Web Accessibility for evaluating Section 508 Compliance for Software and Web.

The Baseline Tests supports:

  • Unified testing for the Section 508 technical requirements for Software and Websites, as well as Functional Performance Criteria (FPC) across government.
  • Provides a minimum set of Tests for agencies to streamline/enhance their existing test processes.
  • Aligns Section 508 accessibility testing with most of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) success criteria, in preparation for the upcoming Section 508 refresh.

DHS Section 508 Compliance Test Process for Applications

The "DHS Section 508 Compliance Test Process for Applications" document incorporates the minimum baseline tests and steps required to determine compliance with Section 508 requirements. A unified test approach for Section 508 compliance provides consistency across government and confidence in test results shared between agencies.

Test instructions that are specific to DHS only are identified with *DHS-specific* or "[no baseline]". The outcomes of these tests will be reflected only in Section 508 test results. Baseline test results are not affected by DHS-specific tests.

Accessibility Tests for Documents

DHS Section 508 Compliance Test Process for Microsoft Word

The Department of Homeland Security has worked in conjunction with the Accessible Electronic Document (AED) Community of Practice (COP) to produce new guidance for creating and testing Microsoft 2010 Word documents for Section 508 conformance. The AED COP is comprised of subject matter experts from several federal agencies who seek to:

  • Increase awareness of the importance of access to Accessible Electronic Documents across the federal community.
  • Promote successful strategies that increase the ability of federal employees to create accessible electronic documents.
  • Advance the field of accessibility for all participating agencies by creating a repository of accessibility artifacts.
  • Identify and improve the alignment of requirements defining accessible electronic documents across for all participating agencies.
  • Promote successful strategies which create the highest level of accessibility for documents at the lowest cost.
  • Identify and supply best practices to the CIO Council Accessibility Committee of Practice.

DHS Section 508 Compliance Test Process for PDF

The use of Portable Document Formats (PDFs) is popular for sharing information. Unfortunately, persons with disabilities, who utilize screen readers or other assistive technologies to read the content of PDFs, often cannot access the content because the documents are not Section 508 compliant. To help ensure that 508 compliant PDFs are disseminated, this test process has been created to evaluate documents against all applicable standards including technical criteria and 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria.

A Section 508 Compliance Test Process for PDF documents is under development by the AED COP. In the interim, please follow the PDF guidance located in the additional resources section below.

Additional Resources / Downloads

Last Published Date: October 13, 2016

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