STC Usability SIG Newsletter
Usability Interface

Section 508 from the Hearing Loss Perspective

By David Baquis

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended in 1998, requires federal departments and agencies, including the United States Postal Service, to comply with accessibility requirements when procuring, developing, using or maintaining electronic and information technology (E&IT), unless doing so causes an undue burden (significant difficulty or expense). E&IT with accessibility requirements pertinent to people with hearing disabilities include: telephones; televisions; videotapes and DVDs; multimedia web sites; interactive voice response systems, and information kiosks.

Where steps and physical barriers kept people with physical disabilities out of the workforce and out of government buildings three decades ago, videos and web pages without captioning; telephones without amplification; interactive voice response systems that do not support TTY signals; phone configurations that do not support VCO (voice carry over); and phone systems with no TTY jacks are examples of barriers today. Congress identified the federal government as the proper place to begin tackling these problems.

Through the Section 508 amendment, the federal government has been given the responsibility to set an example for the rest of the country by being a model employer and providing exemplary service to its customers with disabilities by showing that access can be achieved in a reasonable way and that information technology access will benefit all people.

The Section 508 statute directed the U.S. Access Board to develop access standards for this technology. The process began with a report presented to the board by an advisory committee it convened and ended with the 508 Standards being incorporated in their entirety into the federal procurement regulations.

The 508 Facts

For clarity, it is important to understand several basic facts about Section 508:

Section 508 requirements only pertain to federal departments and agencies:
The standard enhances accessibility for both federal employees and public users of those agencies. For example, if you work for a private non-profit organization that recently purchased an uncaptioned video, the 508 requirements would not apply to your situation because you don't work for a federal agency.

Section 508 requirements are only enforceable in relation to procurements that occurred after June 25, 2001:
If you have a complaint about a federal interactive voice response (IVR) system, for example, you would need to determine if that IVR system was procured after June 25, 2001. If it was procured before June 25, 2001, then you might request a reasonable accommodation under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, but accessibility of that IVR system would not be enforceable under 508.

Section 508 addresses accessibility, not accommodations:
The 508 focus is on the specifications of the technology to be procured, not the needs of individuals who might use it. This is perhaps the most important point: covered technology must conform to 508 standards even if no one in a federal agency has a disability. If a federal agency, for example, were to purchase a new phone system, 508 would require all of the new phones to be hearing aid compatible. It would not require the agency to understand inductive listening or to survey how many hard of hearing people are in the agency.

One frequent misunderstanding by the hard of hearing and deaf communities is that 508 entitles people with hearing loss to an accommodation, such as a two-way pager. This is not true. Other laws, such as sections 501 or 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, address the rights of federal employees or members of the public to accommodations. Section 508 focuses on the design of MAINSTREAM E&IT products to enable their use by people with disabilities.

Accessible products and accommodations complement one another. For example a TTY (the accommodation) can be used to transmit a conversation over cellular service (the accessible mainstream product). If digital cellular phones garble the TTY signal, then the procurement of that cellular phone or service may be considered non-complaint with the 508 Standard.This kind of frustration, resulting from new developments in technology, is partly what drove the amendments to Section 508. Another example is the requirement that televisions include the capability to display closed captions. This applies to all newly procured televisions (covered under 508) even if nobody is anticipated to utilize the closed caption display.

Federal agencies may procure E&IT that is non-conforming with the 508 Standard, by claiming an exception:
Such exceptions are listed in Subpart A of the Standard and include lack of commercial availability and concern that conformance will fundamentally alter a product. If an Agency claims an undue burden, it must still find a way to provide access to the E&IT by using alternate means.

Why is Section 508 Important?

Section 508 is proactive:
It does not require users to disclose their disabilities. It reduces barriers to E&IT up-front, in much the same way that the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) removed many architectural barriers.

Section 508 helps drive accessible design:
Companies compete to develop products that conform to the 508 standard. Currently, many products conform to some, but not all, applicable provisions.

Section 508 spills accessible technology into society:
Product features developed for the purpose of meeting federal procurement regulations will be retained and incorporated in products sold outside the federal government.

Section 508 serves as a model for accessibility:
Universities, states and foreign governments, for example, have chosen to incorporate parts of the Standards in their policies or procedures.

Section 508 is enforceable:
Federal agencies can be sued if they don't comply. This is one reason why Section 508 is taken very seriously and has received a lot of attention. Complaints must be filed by a person with a disability. The complaint can be filed directly with the federal department or agency alleged to be in noncompliance, and they will investigate it. The complainant may also file a civil action. If an agency is determined to be noncompliant, complainants are entitled to injunctive relief (not punitive damages) and to recover reasonable attorney fees.

The federal government is accountable:
Each agency has appointed a 508 coordinator. All federal departments evaluate their agencies for 508 compliance and submit information to the United States attorney general. The attorney general, in turn, prepares and submits to the President a report containing information on and recommendations regarding the extent to which the E&IT of the federal government is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

Section 508 increases employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the federal government:
It also supports full participation by the public who use federal government E&IT products.

Commentary: SHHH and Section 508

As discussed in the accompanying article, Section 508 has many important ramifications for people with hearing loss. Besides ensuring that a minimal level of accessibility to electronic and information technology is provided by federal agencies to all persons who use their technology, it is clear that Section 508 will help drive and promote accessible design beyond the federal market.

SHHH has a played an important part in the work of promoting and informing the debate and implementation of accessibility under Section 508. SHHH is a member of the Accessibility Forum, which is a collaborative effort among groups subject to Section 508, including government, industry, user, consumer and disability rights groups, which work together to provide technical assistance on accessibility under Section 508 to the government and other stakeholders. The Accessibility Forum members, under the sponsorship of the General Services Administration, work to benefit U.S. employees and members of the public with disabilities by defining ways to identify products which meet 508 standards of accessibility, providing a voice for the accessibility stakeholder community, and providing a venue for gaining broad acceptance of ways to enhance accessibility for electronic and information technologies to exchange and use information without adverse consequences to the operating system.

SHHH continues to work with industry, consumer and disability rights groups and government agencies to improve understanding of hearing loss, and to promote the use of accessible technology and strategies in the workplace and in all technology.

SHHH also works on accessible design issues through membership in the ANSI A117 committee, and through consulting with the Access Board, government agencies, etc. We also give trainings on hearing loss which is used to educate government / industry when designing accessible products.

Resources

The Access Board and General Services Administration (GSA) are authorized by statute to provide technical assistance on Section 508. GSA maintains the section508.gov website. The ITTATC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education to provide additional technical assistance.

Access Board
1331 F Street, N.W.
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20004
800/872-2253 Voice
800/993-2822 TTY

Websites
For More Information on Section 508, go to:

• www.access-board.gov/508.htm
  United States Access Board
  Lists the standard for 508.
• www.section508.gov
  Includes frequently-asked questions on federal agencies involved with 508 implementation.
• www.ittatc.org
  Information for the general public. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
• www.opm.gov/disability/
  Federal government job information.
• www.washington.edu/accessit
  Provisions from the Section 508 Standard Impacting on People with Hearing Loss

About Section 508

To fully understand Section 508, it is essential that readers view the Technical Assistance Guide located on the Access Boards' website.

Of the 63+ provisions in the Section 508 Standard, there are many that address the interests of people with hearing and speech disabilities. Although 508 provisions are not clustered by disability within the Standard, there are ones that pertain to hearing loss throughout. Other provisions may apply to people with hearing loss as well.

Web-Based Intranet And Internet Information And Applications
1194.22 (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
1194.22 (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

Telecommunications Products
1194.23 (a) Telecommunications products or systems which provide a function allowing voice communication and which do not themselves provide a TTY functionality shall provide a standard non-acoustic connection point for TTYs. Microphones shall be capable of being turned on and off to allow the user to intermix speech with TTY use.

1194.23 (b) Telecommunications products which include voice communication functionality shall support all commonly used cross-manufacturer non-proprietary standard TTY signal protocols.

1194.23 (c) Voice mail, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems shall be usable by TTY users with their TTYs.

1194.23 (f) For transmitted voice signals, telecommunications products shall provide a gain adjustable up to a minimum of 20 dB. For incremental volume control, at least one intermediate step of 12 dB of gain shall be provided.

1194.23 (h) Where a telecommunications product delivers output by an audio transducer which is normally held up to the ear, a means for effective magnetic wireless coupling to hearing technologies shall be provided.

1194.23 (i) Interference to hearing technologies (including hearing aids, cochlear implants, and assistive listening devices) shall be reduced to the lowest possible level that allows a user of hearing technologies to utilize the telecommunications product.

1194.23 (j) Products that transmit or conduct information or communication, shall pass through cross-manufacturer, non-proprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats or other information necessary to provide the information or communication in a usable format. Technologies which use encoding, signal compression, format transformation, or similar techniques shall not remove information needed for access or shall restore it upon delivery.

Video And Multimedia Products
1194.24 (a) All analog television displays 13 inches and larger, and computer equipment that includes analog television receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. As soon as practicable, but not later than July 1, 2002, wide screen digital television (DTV) displays measuring at least 7.8 inches vertically, DTV sets with conventional displays measuring at least 13 inches vertically, and stand-alone DTV tuners, whether or not they are marketed with display screens, and computer equipment that includes DTV receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals.

1194.24 (c) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned.

Self Contained, Closed Products
1194.25 (a) Self-contained products shall be usable by people with disabilities without requiring an end-user to attach assistive technology to the product. Personal headsets for private listening are not assistive technology.

1194.25 (e) When products provide auditory output, the audio signal shall be provided at a standard signal level through an industry standard connector that will allow for private listening. The product must provide the ability to interrupt, pause, and restart the audio at anytime.

1194.25 (f) When products deliver voice output in a public area, incremental volume control shall be provided with output amplification up to a level of at least 65 dB. Where the ambient noise level of the environment is above 45 dB, a volume gain of at least 20 dB above the ambient level shall be user selectable. A function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use.

Functional Performance Criteria
1194.31 (c) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user hearing shall be provided, or support for assistive technology used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing shall be provided.
1194.31 (d) Where audio information is important for the use of a product, at least one mode of operation and information retrieval shall be provided in an enhanced auditory fashion, or support for assistive hearing devices shall be provided.

Information, Documentation and Support
1194.41 (c) Support services for products shall accommodate the communication needs of end-users with disabilities.