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Accessibility on the web

Why is accessibility important?

Many web pages are partially or entirely inaccessible to the enhanced devices used for web browsing by people with visual or motor impairments.

An accessible web site can easily be viewed in larger print, read or listened to through a text-only screen reader, and navigated without a mouse.

A properly designed, accessible website doesn't shut out any visitors.

What is the law?

In 1996, the U.S. Justice Department ruled that web sites are public accommodations that must comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). As in every other accommodation, organizations have a legal obligation to not discriminate against people on the basis of disability.

What is Section 508?

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 required that electronic and information technology developed or purchased by the Federal Government must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Criteria for compliance with Section 508 were published in 2000 by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (the "Access Board"). The document is called the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards.

What are the WAI standards?

In addition to the standards produced by the Access Board in response to Section 508, another important system of standards has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C standards are called the Web Accessibility Initiative, or WAI.

Accessibility Resources Online