ESRI believes that Section 508 reinforces the use of its technology by all people and is committed to meeting the requirements and goals of Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act.
What is Section 508? (excerpt from the Access Board website)
Section 508 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which requires that electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the Federal government be accessible to people with disabilities unless it would pose an undue burden to do so.
On August 7, 1998, President Clinton signed into law the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. These new amendments create binding and enforceable standards for all the Federal Agencies.
The enforcement provisions of Section 508 are effective as of June 25, 2001. By statute, the enforcement provisions of Section 508 apply only to electronic and information technology procured on or after the effective date.
ESRI and Section 508
ESRI believes that Section 508 is good for the GIS industry and its needs to provide GIS access to people regardless of their abilities. Our commitment to Accessibility is to support the accessibility tools provided by standard operating systems (e.g., Microsoft Windows, UNIX, etc.) as well as to build accessibility capabilities into GIS functions across our product line.
ESRI’s Accessibility strategy is to:
Develop products, technologies, and services that are accessible and usable by all people.
Leverage enabling accessibility technologies available in Operating Systems, Web Servers, DBMS’s, when and where appropriate.
Develop GIS-specific accessibility technologies to enable all people to use and apply GIS.
Empower customers with information to make informed choices about the accessibility capabilities in the ESRI products they use.
