IT Accessibility Committee Newsletter: January 2007

You Are Here: NYS Forum Home > Committees/Areas of Interest > IT Accessibility Committee > Resources > January 2007 Newsletter

IT Accessibility Committee January 2007 Newsletter

### Edited by Joel Obuchowski

Happy New Year!

With the new year comes a new administration, and we've already seen some requests for changes in our sites. One of the things we'll be talking about at the Committee's January meeting is what awareness-raising we can do to ensure that the new administration understands OFT's policy and standards and understands the importance of web accessibility to the public.

We'll also provide some updates on the progress of the RFP for a NYS-specific validation tool, training initiatives, and we'll discuss upcoming presentations.

Please join us:

WHEN: Thursday, January 11, 2:30 - 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: The NYS Forum offices, 411 State Street, Albany.

__________________________________________________________

Make Your Open Meetings Accessible

In his Executive Order #3, Governor Spitzer has asked agencies to make all of their public meetings accessible via Internet video feed. While this is a great step toward open government, please be sure that you don't create a new barrier that exclude people with disabilities. If you plan a meeting to be videocast, please be sure to consider people with vision and hearing impairments.

For people with hearing impairments, you can engage the services of a sign language interpreter to convert the dialogue into sign language.

For people with vision impairments, make sure your presenters know that any visual presentation materials will need to be described so that disabled users have access to the same information. When posting associated presentation materials and handouts, make sure those materials are offered in an accessible format, such as plain text or accessible HTML. Remember, OFT's Mandatory Technology Standard 14 requires that State agencies must offer an accessible alternative to any proprietary material posted.

If you would like more information on how to convert visual aids into a format accessible to people with vision impairments, contact Debi Orton at dorton@goer.state.ny.us or by telephone at 518-473-3426.

__________________________________________________________

New Series on NYS Policy and Standards

Since this year ushers in a new administration in New York, we're taking this opportunity to begin a series of articles summarizing New York's web accessibility initiative. Please feel free to share this article with anyone else in your agency.

The basis for New York's web accessibility initiative is the Office For Technology's (OFT) Statewide Technology Policy P04-002 and Mandatory Technology Standard S04-001 for Accessibility of State Agency Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications. The policy document describes the purpose and scope of the initiative, and outlines how the policy is to be implemented. The standards document provides technical specifics on fourteen individual checkpoints intended to ensure a basic level of web accessibility for people with disabilities.

This month, we'll focus on the Policy document, which can be found in full on the OFT web site at http://www.oft.state.ny.us/policy/p04-002/index.htm (External Link) .

The Policy applies to all 'State agencies,' which is defined as any department, board, bureau, commission, division, office, council, committee or officer of the state, excluding the legislature and the judiciary - essentially, the entire Executive Branch. It affirms that New York's policy is that all information and applications (content) made available by State agencies to the general public, state employees, and 'any other persons' are accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Another important provision is the linkage between this policy and the Mandatory Technology Standard, which identifies how agencies will comply.

The policy is comprised of three parts: Content Accessibility, Notice and Contact Information, and Procurement of Content Design, Development, and Maintenance.

Part 1 - State Agency Content Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities The effective date of this policy is June 21, 2004, which means that any content posted on or after the effective date is required to comply. It also establishes a requirement for agencies to review all existing content, and bring it into compliance, with more popular pages being brought into compliance within 180 days, and least popular pages being remediated upon changes to the content.

Part 2 - Notice and Contact Information Agencies are required to establish contact information to facilitate the ability for persons with disabilities to contact the agency. The distinct accessibility link must appear (at a minimum) in the footer of the agency's home page.

Part 3 - Procurement of Web Site Design, Development, and Maintenance This section of the policy provides language to be included in every procurement with a web content component that ensures that all web content procured from non-State agency sources conforms to state policy and standards. The language also requires that testing be done to demonstrate the compliance of the content as a condition of acceptance by the state agency.

Required Submissions and Notices

Each agency is required to designate an implementation liaison, and to notify OFT of any change to that designation.

Compliance

Agencies are required to validate content accessibility before posting against the Mandatory Technology Standard S04-001. Further, agencies are required to perform annual validation of all content and develop a correction plan for non-compliant material. Agencies are required to document these tests, to keep documentation on file, and make it available to OFT upon request.

For any instance in which making specific content accessible would constitute a fundamental alteration to a service (for example, requiring video descriptions of maps or traffic cams for individuals with visual impairments), or would result in a financial or administrative burden, agencies must document that determination and keep the documentation on file. Such documentation must identify the information or services affected, the nature of the exception, and specify an alternative way of obtaining the information.

State agencies with questions about the policy should contact OFT's Strategic and Executive Services Bureau at (518) 473-0234.

__________________________________________________________