A lot of state systems are taking this tack, and a lot of legal counsel's
are supporting this. It is much cheaper in the long run to do business this
way, and given that these are legal standards it is going to be very hard to
support another position in most courts.
Ron Stewart
-----Original Message-----
From: tabitha buggie-hunt
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 11/29/01 5:33 AM
Subject: Re: Section 508 and distance education
At the same time, we (talking from the perspective of a state
university)
do receive Federal funding. (Our students get Federal Loans etc.) This
is
the same argument used to make sure that any institution that receives
Federal funding may not discriminate.
That said, however, I know that New York State has told its colleges and
universities to start following 508 guidelines, and not to wait until
there
are suits etc. When professors train to teach online through SLN (SUNY
Learning Network) they are reminded to try to make their courses
accessible.
Wouldn't it be nice not to have to twist arms and convince people that
they
HAVE to make things accessible?
Tabitha
At 03:33 PM 11/28/01 -0500, you wrote:
>At 12:52 PM 11/28/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>>Public universities though are required to provide programmatic access
>>under 508 to educational and administrative resources.
>
>How so? That's alarming. Access-board.gov says, "Section 508 requires
that
>when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and
>information technology, they shall ensure that the electronic and
>information technology allows Federal employees with disabilities to
have
>access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the
access
>to and use of information and data by Federal employees who are not
>individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed
on
>the agency."
>
>So unless a public university is considered a Federal agency (and
they're
>not, as far as I know), how does this apply?
>
>>The potential standards a court of law would use to determine
>>if the web resources were accessible would be either the W3C Web
Content
>>Accessibility Guidelines [1] or the Section 508 rules[2].
>
>But the WAI and 508 guidelines haven't been accepted as standards of
the
>ADA. (At least not yet.)
>
>ASHA says that classrooms should have particular acoustics (S/N ratio
and
>reverb), but those aren't legal requirements, either. Would be nice.
508
>everywhere would be nice too. :-)
Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, Director [log in to unmask]
Office of Disability Services voice (716) 245-5112
SUNY Geneseo relay 1-800-421-1220
1 College Circle 105 Erwin fax (716) 245-5032
Geneseo, New York 14454
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