Accessibility
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability in programs conducted by Federal agencies, in programs receiving
Federal financial assistance, in Federal employment, and in the employment
practices of Federal contractors.
Section 504 states that "no qualified
individual with a disability in the United States shall be excluded from, denied
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or
activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by
any Executive agency."
Section 508 now establishes requirements for
electronic and information technology developed, maintained, procured, or used
by the Federal government. Section 508 requires Federal electronic and
information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities, including
employees and members of the public.
In December 2000 the Federal Access
Board issued final standards for electronic and information technology under
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. These were adopted and published in the
Federal Registrar in April 2001 with enforcement to begin June 21,
2001.
While these standards currently apply to federal government, it is
the direct responsibility of the Orange County Health Department and their web
designers and developers to become familiar with these accessibility guidelines
and to apply these principles in designing and creating any official State of
Florida web site.
All Florida State Government web sites must comply with Section 508 to ensure
the widest possible audience easy access to government information. These
standards are based on access guidelines developed by the Web Accessibility
Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).