August 05, 2006
The White House website does not comply with Section 508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
(http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/report2/index.htm)
"require[s] federal agencies to ensure that EIT [electronic
information technology] they procure is accessible to people
with disabilities
(http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/report2/summary.htm)."
That includes websites.
The White House website does not comply with Section 508.
A review (located:
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/
Watchfire%20WebXACT%20disabilities.pdf
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/
Watchfire%20WebXACT%20government.pdf
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/
Watchfire%20WebXACT%20kids.pdf)
of three pages on http://www.whitehouse.gov found 49
instances of Section 508 violations
www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web
Most notably, these White House pages don't provide alternative
text for all images. A blind person surfing the Internet uses a
program that searches for text that identifies images. Many
images on the White House site have no associated text in the
web code and leave a person with disabilities unable to tell
what the image is.
Contact Linda Sites (linda.sites@oa.eop.gov) and Linda
Tolkan (ltolkan@oa.eop.gov) in the Executive Office of
the President and ask why the White House website isn't in
compliance and what steps, if any, are being taken to fix the
problem. (Check out American Progress's letter to the EOP
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/
section%20508%20protest.pdf.)
Source: Justice for All Network
Posted by rollingrains at August 5, 2006 06:49 PM