Section 508 Accessibility Compliance

This month marks two momentous occasions...the launch of Accela Automation 7.0.5 and the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Oddly enough, these two seemingly unrelated events are indeed extremely related.  The passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act was a major milestone in the protection of civil rights for persons with disabilities.  Enormous strides have been made over the last twenty years in breaking down the physical and social barriers for those with disabilities.  One notable byproduct of ADA was Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1998, which amended the original Rehabilitation Act enacted in 1973 to require that federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, including those with mobility impairments, blindness, and low vision, as well as those who rely on the use of assistive technologies.

I am extremely pleased to announce that Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access are both now Section 508 Compliant as of the release of Version 7.0.5 on July 12.  This milestone for Accela represents an enormous effort to literally go page-by-page through both Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access to identify areas of noncompliance with the applicable requirements for Web-based Intranet and Internet-based information and applications and implement code changes to support full accessibility.  We enlisted the services of The Paciello Group, a leading accessibility consultant for Internet-based applications for the Federal Government, to assist in assessing Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access and to provide best-practice recommendations where changes were required.  While the requirements for Section 508 compliance are directed specifically at the Federal Government, many state and local governments have taken the initiative to come into compliance with the spirit of the Section 508 requirements.  And where Federal funds are being provided at the state and local level, the Federal government is often requiring compliance with accessibility requirements as well.  Regardless of the motivation, accessibility for your staff and the public they serve shows your commitment to comparable access for all. 

Most of the changes made to Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access will not be visible in the standard user interface, but behind the scenes are a number of critical changes that will allow the applications to work with browser-based accessibility tools as well as assistive technologies such as the JAWS screen reader.  These include tags that provide a descriptive label for icons and other graphics, the ability to view the applications without style sheets and color, support for high contrast and increased text sizing, and alternate views where the existing user interface could not otherwise be made accessible.  These alternate views are controlled by a separate functional ID (FID) in Accela Automation for those who need to make use of them.

Example of an Accela Citizen Access screen with style sheet on

Example of an Accela Citizen Access screen with style sheet off

Both applications have been thoroughly scanned using AccVerify, an industry-standard tool for assessing Section 508 compliance.  While no software application is likely to be 100% compliant, we are confident that Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access meet the spirit of the applicable requirements of Section 508, and that the applications can be successfully used by those with a wide variety of disabilities.  Accela is committed to ongoing compliance against today's standards as well as those likely to be established in the near future.  We also rely on a number of third-party software vendors who are likewise committed to Section 508 compliance, and will leverage their compliance efforts in our products as available.

We hope you share our excitement in having achieved this important milestone.  Further, we hope that Accela Automation and Accela Citizen Access can help serve as catalysts for establishing accessibility standards for other elements of your Web presence, if you have not already done so, to allow for greater inclusion and prevent discrimination based on an individual's disabilities.