508 applies to private companies Was: Re: [thelist] (no subject)

Judah McAuley judah at wiredotter.com
Fri May 31 10:57:01 CDT 2002


martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com wrote:

> Take a look through the examples I cited the other day, or alternatively
> through the full text of the Act:
> http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/ofccp/ada.htm
> you'll see the whole of Title III applies to commercial organisations, and
> Title I applies to employers, including private employers with 15 or more
> employees.
>
> I think what a lot of people do is confuse the law (ADA) which sets out the
> principle that you may not discriminate against people with disabilities
> with the regulations as applied to web (Section508). Now those regulations
> are explicitly designed for government programs, but they are used as the
> standard to inform and assess the compliance with the principles.
>
> If anyone's still unclear on this, or doesn't have the time to read all the
> legislation, might I suggest the new Glasshaus book on accessibility?

I have read section 508 as well as the ADA statutes and I don't believe
that you're correct.  Section 508 is a set of administrative rules
narrowly defined for the US federal government.  It does not even apply
to state or local governments except in their dealings with the federal
government (such as federal grant funded programs).

There is not at this time, as far as I know, any settled case law that
applies the ADA to web accessibility.  Since the ADA is not specific
regarding actual implementations (it is, as you say, a general principle
law) then all "rules" about how the ADA must be applied have to come
from court decisions.  It also would help if Congress would provide some
guidelines that they and the Department of Justice feel forms compliance
with the ADA.  They have not done so.  Until the case law comes through
the courts or the DOJ says that private companies should comply with
section 508 to avoid going afoul of the ADA, section 508 does not apply
at all to private companies.  Neither does the WAI.

That being said, I think that its in everyone's best interest to try and
implement section 508/WAI guidelines so they don't get sued.  Since
guidelines under the ADA come from case law, that means that someone has
to get sued before people know for sure what is right and wrong.  I, for
one, do not want to be that test case.  So I will do what I can to make
accessible sites.  It's just common sense (as well as ethical, moral, etc.)

Judah





More information about the thelist mailing list