Nowadays, 508 remediation services are quite a trend and mandate in many countries. What is the fuss about? Let us understand this in this blog post.
First of all, what are 508 remediation services? It is a process of making information and electronic technologies accessible to people with special needs, per the guidelines and standards mentioned in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This guideline is generated for documents, websites, mobile applications, and hardware.
Importance of mastering 508 Remediation Services
The most important part of mastering 508 remediation services is ensuring that all the information in digital formats is accessible to people with disabilities. This is one of the digital accessibility services. As per the 1998 amendment to the Rehabilitation Act Board is an independent Federal agency, and they ensure that all the information available on the internet is accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Understanding the requirements of 508 Compliance
The requirement of Section 508 Compliance requires federal agencies to ensure that ICT developed by them is procured, maintained, or allows employees with disabilities and individuals with disabilities to have access to and use information and data. All the information access is compared to that available to the ones without disabilities.
Differences between 508, WCAG, and ADA compliance
Though Section 508, WCAG compliance, and ADA compliance are interrelated, each ensures accessibility to individuals with disabilities.
In 508 compliance, the federal law in the United States mandated that all the electronic and information technology designed, procured, harbored, or used by the federal government be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines) is a set of guidelines developed by the world wide web consortium (W3C) that provides a global standard for web accessibility. It includes all the technical standards and guidance for designing and developing accessible digital content.
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance refers to adherence to the civil rights law in the united states that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, education, and access to public services.
Building a remediation strategy
Now that you have understood the difference between Section 508, WCAG, and ADA Compliance. Next comes how to build a remediation plan to ensure compliance.
The very first step is to assess the documents and find the barriers. In two ways, it can be detected automated testing and manual testing. Some automated tools can detect most of the common barriers to accessibility, such as poor contrast, missing alt text, and improper header usage. And in manual testing, the industry experts check for accessibility issues.
Once the barriers are identified, the next step is to make a remediation plan and resolve all the issues to ensure it complies with 508, WCAG, and ADA guidelines and standards. Some of the points to consider when making your documents accessible:
Choose the right document format
Add alternative texts
Design as per accessibility standards
Making multimedia accessible
Creating accessible tables and forms
To check 508 compliance services to ensure accessibility, you can also check your digital content with assistive technology such as screen readers and others. Ensuring accessibility can only be fulfilled with a precise remediation plan.
How to Train For 508 Remediation
To provide knowledge to everyone in your organization about 508 compliance, you can schedule training sessions with the help of 508 compliance services providers, or there are a lot of resources available from where you can teach your employees about the need for accessibility in this digital era.
How to Stay Up to Date with Changing Standards
It is difficult to find updated information about the changes made to the accessibility standards. Therefore, it is better to hire a digital accessibility services provider to let you know about the changes, and they will also ensure that your organization's data and information are accessible as per the new updates.
Another way to do it is to keep up with your industry trends, and you will eventually reach accessibility compliance. Although this is a time taking process, it will give you an opportunity to enhance your knowledge about accessibility standards and industry expansions.
Conclusion
508 remediations services are a trend nowadays because of the sudden strictness towards making your content accessible. Finding correct information about the guidelines and eliminating the barriers yourself is challenging and time-consuming. Therefore, to make your website compliant with section 508, WCAG, and ADA compliance hiring a digital accessibility service provider is the best option.
They will help and guide you step by step to ensure compliance, such as finding the barriers, creating a remediation plan, and making it accessible; everything will be taken care of by them themselves without being much of a hassle to you.
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