Web-accessibility Deadline Looms for Feds - Schools Next? An amendment to the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to make their technology accessible to the disabled, will take effect June 21. Association for the Blind technology consultant Ross Doerr said the law is a likely precursor to similar regulations on the state level that will affect school districts. Under the mandate, new federal technology acquisitions and current Web sites must be fully accessible to the hearing or sight impaired. For example, images must be accompanied with text that can be translated by a text-reader, and multimedia content must be augmented with synchronized audio. Many federal agencies have bought software to help them automate this upgrade process. Doerr suggested that educators might want to contact their state education departments to get a head start on incorporating accessibility issues into their curricula (eSchool News Online, 5 June 2001) Comments by John Goldthwaite: Although this article is well intentioned, it is inaccurate. All recipients of Federal funds including school systems have been mandated to provide access to all programmatic material including websites and educational software by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. There is no need to wait for additional federal or state legislation since Section 504 has been in effect since 1973. The Department of Education is providing additional funds to its ten regional Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTACs) over the next five years to remind school systems of their responsibilities under Section 504. Section 508 itself applies only to procurement and development of Electronic and Information Technology by the executive branches of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal System. It does not apply to recipients of Federal funds or to the private sector. However, state governments voluntarily agreed to comply with Section 508 when they accepted funds under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. So each state is required to integrate 508 into their own purchasing procedures as long as the state is accepting AT Act funds. Unless a school system is an integral part of a state agency, this would not effect them.