Developing An Effective Section 508
Program
Quentis Scott
IT Specialist - Section 508 Coordinator
General Services Administration
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Washington, D.C.
First Things First
– Take A Deep Breath and Don’t Panic! You’re about
to make a difference!
Where Do I Start?
Began building business relationships:
• Start within your own organization
• Internet and Intranet Project Managers and
Developers
• Content Managers
• Acquisition Officials
• Office of Civil Rights
• HR
• Find others interested in or knowledgeable of
Section 508 to help
Let’s Look at Roles and
Responsibilities
Roles and Responsibilities of the
Section 508 Coordinator
pg.1
• Setup and manage the agency-wide Section 508
program
• Establish, monitor and enforce Section 508 agency
policy
• Develop critical guidance and resources such as
Section 508 Handbook, Tutorials, Checklists
Roles and Responsibilities of the
Section 508 Coordinator
pg.2
• Begin a 508 testing environment
• Provide expert technical advice and guidance
• Provide agency and individual training
• Acquire a working budget
Roles and Responsibilities of the
Section 508 Coordinator
pg.3
• Inform agency employees on how to file a Section
508 complaint
• Generally responsible for bi-annual Section 508
agency report
• Agency advocate for persons with disabilities
• Much more….
Recruit Regional s508 Coordinator’s
and POCs
– Add to agency Section 508 policy
– Request appointees from the HSSO level
– Reach out to known interested employees
– Meet with agency coordinators
Establish a Working Group
A working group can help with establishing
policy, procedures and other mission
objectives.
– Users with disabilities
– Users of assistive technology
– Good way to find detailees
Set Agency Policy and Procedures
Policy and Handbook
• Policy on publishing
accessible online content
• How to create accessible
online content
• Policy on Section 508
compliance of agency web
systems
• How to test for 508
compliance during the
development lifecycle
• Policy on posting accessible • How to create accessible
online content & documents
documents
• Policy on multimedia (video
and audio)
• Where to go for video
captioning
Section 508
Policy and Procedures
• Outline your agency expectations / requirements to
comply with 508 law
• Consider modifying what may be already in place
• View other agency policies and procedures
Vetting the s508 Policy
• Send out for Review and Comments
– OCIO and HSSO vetting process
– HSSOs generally include those organizations
cited in the directive
• Receive and address agency comments
• Revise the policy accordingly
• Initiate agency wide communications and
publish
Assemble a 508 Test Team
Test for Section 508 / WCAG 2.0
– Obtain an automated tool for web
testing
– Provide manual and automated testing
– Establish a manual test methodology
– Recruit assistive technology users
Testing for Section 508 / WCAG 2.0
• Consult with your CIO or agency contact to find
websites, web applications that need testing
• Get commitment from customers to
remediate after testing
• Advertise availability of testing resources through
agency channels
Testing for Section 508 / WCAG 2.0
Slide2
• Expand your testing capability over time
• Maintain a database tracking system
• Include Usability testing when possible
Document Remediation
Document Remediation
• Assemble a team that can help with
remediation of office documents
• Start simple and expand over time
• Cost effective, use in-house service
• Got money? Solicit the requirement.
slide 2
Setup A Website
Intranet/Internet Website
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Policy
• Handbook
• How to Guidance
(Tutorials and Checklists)
• Technical Tools and
Federal Resources
• 508 Coordinators by
Region
• Complaint Procedure
• Link to Section508.gov
• Training
Intranet/ Internet Website
• Information should be easily to find
• Clear menu items
• Accessible
• Usability test recommended
Professional Development
Training
•
•
•
•
How to…
Accessible training online 24 hours
Individual and group
Office document remediation (Word, Excel, PP
and PDF)
• Remediation, testing to standards
• Use video communications
Agency Solicitation Reviews
slide 1
Agency Solicitation Reviews
slide 2
– Partner with procurement officials
– Discuss need for evaluation and review process
for IT procurements
– Discuss OMB Reporting Template requirement
– CO accountability, CIO Policy
Agency Solicitation Reviews
slide 3
– Buy Accessible Wizard
– Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
(VPAT)
– Facilitate a tracking method for solicitation
assessment reviews
Summary
• Develop a plan based on your resources
• Plan to focus on those targeted metrics
required in the Section 508 Reporting
Template
– Testing and Validation – Lifecycle activities
– Complaints Process
– Training
– Acquisition
Summary
slide 2
• Be realistic in your plan
• Connect with other federal coordinators when
needed
• Remember, you can only do what you can do
• Document your efforts
Contact Me
Quentis Scott
Quentis.Scott@gsa.gov
202-253-9748
QUESTIONS?