Grackle Suite

Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination based upon disability. Section 504 is an anti-discrimination, civil rights statute that requires the needs of students with disabilities to be met as adequately as the needs of the non-disabled are met.

Section 504 states that: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 706(8) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…” [29 U.S.C. §794(a), 34 C.F.R. §104.4(a)].

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a United States civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities.

It applies to employment practices (Title I), state and local government services (Title II), public transportation (Title II), privately owned places of public accommodation (Title III), telecommunication services (Title IV), and any other rights, public services, and accommodations available to people without disabilities (Title V). The ADA was first enacted in 1990, long before the Internet became the center of commerce, social interaction, information, education, services, office work, and life in general.

Since the early 2000s, the US Department of Justice has openly declared that the ADA applies to web properties that serve the functions outlined in the Act.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is a law that was established by the government of Ontario in Canada to develop and enforce accessibility standards for government, businesses, nonprofits, and public sector organizations.

Their goal is for the province of Ontario to be accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. The AODA does include specific requirements that define whether or not something is accessible; however, it places greater emphasis on process-oriented requirements.

For example, all organizations regardless of size are obligated to train their teams on accessibility and their legal responsibilities as employees, there must be a way for people with disabilities to give feedback or ask for help, employment practices must be accessible, and all organizations with more than 20 employees must formally report on their accessibility progress to the Ontario government.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a law that requires the Federal Government to provide access to its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to people with disabilities. ICT applies to the information technology and other equipment your agency procures, develops, uses, and maintains. In short, this policy aims to make websites, web apps, electronic documents, and software accessible to people with disabilities.

This law not only affects all federal agencies, but private entities such as contractors, Independent Software Vendors selling to the Federal Government and organizations who receive federal funding. It’s important to be proactive about accessibility and compliance, as drive-by demands & lawsuits have been on the rise for federal agencies and institutions.

The original law was put into effect in 1998 and was refreshed in 2018. The refresh of this legislation filled in gaps in the standards and aligned with international standards. In fact, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level A and AA are explicitly referenced in the refreshed Section 508.

A new Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010. It brings together over 116 separate pieces of legislation into one single Act. The Act provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all.

It provides Britain with a discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and are widely accepted as the go-to standard for digital accessibility conformance. They serve as the basis of most accessibility regulations worldwide and are applicable across all current and future digital technologies.

In June 2018, the W3C released WCAG 2.1 – the first major update to WCAG requirements in a decade. This update introduced 17 new success criteria improving WCAG coverage for cognitive disabilities, low vision disabilities, and mobile accessibility.

The PDF Association exists to promote Open Standards-based electronic document implementations using PDF technology. To further its mission, the PDF Association hosts several Competence Centers including the PDF/UA Competence Center.