Not unlike the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, understanding website accessibility involves sifting through a bowl-full of acronyms and abbreviations. Terms like Section 508, ADA, W3C, WAI, and WCAG all get thrown around in reference to accessibility - but what do they all mean? And how do they apply to your business and online presence? First, let’s define the terms so we’re all on the same page… [photo credit: http://flickr.com/photos/bean/322616749/]

Terms, Terms, Terms
Section 508 - In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual’s ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to create new opportunities for people with disabilities and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Source: http://section508.gov

ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 - The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. It expands upon the protections in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Source: http://wikipedia.org

W3C - World Wide Web Consortium - The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. Source: http://w3.org

WAI - W3C Web Accessibility Initiative - The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. Source: http://w3.org/wai

WCAG - W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) documents explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Web “content” generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such. Source: http://w3.org/wai

The Breakdown
Definitions are helpful, but you’re probably still scratching your head. I’ll try and simplify it more for you… First and foremost, the Americans with Disabilities Act focuses more on discrimination of people with disabilities in the real world, not the electronic or virtual one. You can read more about the ADA on their web site, http://ada.gov.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act forces all Federal agencies to provide electronic information in an accessible format. The Assistive Technology Act of 2004 (an amendment to Section 508) requires many state level agencies to comply with Section 508 as well. But, what they don’t tell you is that Section 508 is based off of the W3C WAI WCAG; did you catch all that? That’s the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. So, if you are compliant with WCAG, then you are compliant with Section 508 (for the most part). There are few differences between Section 508 and WCAG, but the important thing to note is that WCAG will offer more up to date guidelines to follow.
Jim Thatcher has put together a side-by-side comparison of Section 508 and WCAG 1.0 if you’re interested in seeing the differences. http://www.jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm.

How does accessibility apply to your online presence?
Online accessibility is as important to your web site as ramps and automatic doors are to a brick & mortar business - it needs to be accessible for people with disabilities in order for them to purchase your product or service. If you choose to disregard people with disabilities when building a store or web site, it could have serious ramifications. For instance, a class action suit against Target.com (Target’s ecommerce web site) was brought about in California last year. These types of law suits against major retailers have increased in recent years and are prompting many ecommerce retailers to overhaul their sites to include accessibility features.

Many organizations, like the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), are pushing for legislation to require all web sites to be accessible for people with disabilities - similar to the Section 508 requirements placed on federal & state agency web sites.

What does it all mean?
Whether you’re publishing a small blog (about that weird mole on your back), or running a multi-million dollar ecommerce web site, accessibility is important. People with disabilities should be able to navigate your site, read your content, and purchase a product with ease. Developing a site that enables people with disabilities to do that should be a fundamental tool in a web developer’s tool belt.

In the upcoming posts in this series we’ll be covering what goes into making a site accessible for people with disabilities and examining some assistive technologies.