Accessibility laws (was RE: [thelist] Dropdowns - good or bad?)

[aardvark]

> From: Erika Meyer <meyer at up.edu>
>
> My "not a lawyer" understanding is that at this point in time, 
> Section 508 applies SPECIFICALLY to "Federal Departments and 
> Agencies."

that is absolutely correct... it also impacts organizations that do 
business with the federal government, and based on some other 
stuff i've read, will most likely cascade to state governments as 
well...

> Regarding access of public places in the US, I think it is the 
> Americans with Disabilities Act which is of consideration.
> http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

yep, this is the one more likely to affect businesses...

i cited section 508 because it's on the books and is clearly aimed 
at web sites... there's still no case law to suggest how much it will 
impact people, let alone the private sector, but why not plan ahead?

anybody remember how much it cost IBM to make the olympics
site accessible?  when much of it was alt attributes that could
have been coded in up-front...

i should have framed it more effectively, but i was posting 
legislation clearly aimed at us as developers... but hey, i think i'm 
the only local guy who bids on city and county gigs and even 
knows this law is on the books...