INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY RESOURCES Overview Under existing federal and state laws and policies, Agencies/state entities, as well as any contractors working for them, are responsible for ensuring that their Agency/state entity’s public websites are accessible to the general public and that their internal electronic and information technology systems are accessible by state employees, including persons with disabilities (State Administrative Manual ). The (now GC Section 7405) directs that: “state governmental entities, in developing, procuring, maintaining, or using electronic or information technology, either indirectly or through the use of state funds by other entities, shall comply with the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (), and regulations implementing that act as set forth in Part 1194 of Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations.” As government continues to provide more services and information to citizens by expanding access to online services, each Agency/state entity has the responsibility to comply with federal and state laws forbidding discrimination against persons with disabilities. Meeting the goals of accessibility include making assistive tools available to employees who require them to perform their jobs, ensuring accessibility is built into an IT project during its earliest planning and requirements stages, and overall awareness of accessibility in developing or retrofitting electronic and information technology. All these steps lead to increased productivity, rework and costs are reduced, and critical information, such as public health and safety, employment, or tax law is available to all who need it. The California Department of Technology, within the Government Operations Agency, together with the Health and Human Services Agency and the Department of Rehabilitation, has created this resource guide to assist Agencies/state entities in meeting requirements for accessible web, information technology (IT) projects, and digital content creation. This guideline aligns with Web Content Accessibility Guideline Level AA Standards in addition to the requirements of Section 508 (). This page left intentionally blank.
The standards and requirements should be integrated into the requesting document, addressing accessibility in the appropriate segments. Determine the commercial availability of application. “An agency may conclude that EIT meeting the applicable technical provisions of the Access Board's standards is not available (and purchase EIT that does not meet those provisions) when it cannot find a commercial item that both meets applicable Access Board's technical provisions and can be furnished in time to satisfy the agency's delivery requirements.” “If products are available that meet some, but not all, applicable provisions, agencies cannot a product as a whole in non-available just because it does not meet all of the applicable provisions. Agency acquisitions must comply with those applicable technical provisions that can be met with supplies or services that are available in the commercial marketplace in time to meet the agency's delivery requirements.” . If commercial non-availability is determined, the Agency/state entity should document the specific exception in the project documents submitted to the Department of Technology using the IT Accessibility Certification in the Executive Approval Transmittal or the IT Accessibility Certification For Delegated IT Projects (). Note that even If is a commercial non-availability exception, the Agency/state entity must still provide information to persons with disabilities in an alternate format if proposed noncompliant products or services are purchased. Review the General Exceptions for Section 508 for a final determination. Having determined the functional and technical requirements, including for accessibility as well as commercial availability for the IT project, it should be possible to evaluate whether conditions for any remaining exceptions might be met. Undue Burden Fundamental Alteration: “Undue burden is defined as ‘a significant difficulty or expense,’ considering all agency resources available to the program or component for which the product is being procured”. This definition is consistent with the use of ‘undue burden’ and ‘undue hardship’ in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other sections of the Rehabilitation Act.