ALBANY, NY - June 26, 2001 - On Tuesday, June 26th nearly 300 state agency web site designers participated in a program sponsored by the New York State Forum For Information Resource Management (NYSFIRM) and Adobe Systems Incorporated. The session, presented by representatives of Adobe, a popular commercial web site application company, was the first in what is intended to be a series of sessions geared to assist state agency programming staff with bringing their web sites into compliance with the state policy designed to ensure cyber accessibility by persons with disabilities.
Access to the internet and government websites for persons with disabilities has received considerable attention in recent weeks due in part to the federal enactment of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which took effect on Thursday, June 21st and the New York State Office for Technology's Policy #99-3. Both of these actions are designed to provide enhanced access to government web sites for persons with disabilities.
Greg Benson, Executive Director of NYSFIRM, expressed appreciation to the staff of Adobe for their participation in the program designed to facilitate making all New York state web sites readily accessible in accordance with new policies. "As evidenced by the attendance at this session, information management leadership across New York government agencies is committed to bringing all state web sites into full compliance with accessibility policies. Adobe's willingness to provide today's informative session is evidence that we can forge productive partnerships with responsible corporations to remove the barriers and provide the tools to the disabled so they might fully benefit from the growing number of government services being made available through the Internet by federal, state and local governments".
Paul Maguire, Chair of NYSFIRM's Webmaster's Guild indicated that "this was a wonderful opportunity to learn about new and emerging techniques to use one of the most widely deployed web applications so it reflects optimum accessibility for the disabled. Adobe's leadership in this arena is to be congratulated and we look forward to similar informative programs for our state members in coming months." Another participant commented "we know, understand and support the new policies to make our web sites accessible to the disabled, but sessions like these are so valuable because they provide us with both the 'how to' and a glimpse of the future we rarely get anywhere else."
Greg Pisocky, who specializes in accessibility and regulatory compliance at Adobe Systems and the key presenter on Tuesday, indicated that "the interest being expressed by federal and state level agency staff responsible for developing and maintaining government web sites is clear testimony to the fact that professionals across the country view access for the disabled as more than just a compliance issue. There is a clear and sincere commitment to achieving equitable access and that goal seems to be universal."
Adobe Systems, Inc. is one of several companies whose CEO's wrote to President Clinton last fall indicating their commitment to a corporate-wide policy on cyber accessibility. Benson indicated that "we are pursuing conversations with others companies who made that commitment and enlisting their participation in our educational program for state and local government staff."
NYSFIRM is a member organization of information resource management leadership in New York state and local government agencies whose mission is to promote policies and practices for effective development, use and management of information resources in New York State. For further information about NYSFIRM programs call (518) 443-5001 or email info@nysfirm.org. Visit NYSFIRM online at http://www.nysfirm.org.
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