36 CFR Part 1194 - Proposed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines NPRM - Preamble

2. Updates to Functional Performance Criteria: 508 Standards and 255 Guidelines

As noted above, the Board is also proposing in this NPRM to update several functional performance criteria in Chapter 3 (located in Appendix C – Technical Requirements)—which applies to both the 508 Standards and the 255 Guidelines—by refining some criteria and making editorial changes necessitated by revisions elsewhere in the proposed rule. We highlight below several of the principle revisions to the functional performance criteria proposed in this NPRM. In addition, Table 3, which follows at the end of this section, provides a detailed comparison of the functional performance criteria in the existing 508 Standards (§ 1194.31), 255 Guidelines (1193.41), and the proposed rule (section 302).

First, while the functional performance criteria in proposed 302 no longer reference assistive technology, this amounts to an editorial change only. The existing 508 Standards and 255 Guidelines allow certain functional performance criteria to be satisfied either directly or indirectly through support for assistive technology. (See, e.g., existing 508 Standards §§ 1194.31(a) – (e)). The functional performance criteria in the proposed rule do not provide for compliance through support for assistive technology because other proposed revisions to the 508 Standards (E203.1) and 255 Guidelines (C201.3) would impose a general requirement that agencies and telecommunications equipment manufacturers respectively ensure that all functionality of ICT is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, either directly or by supporting the use of assistive technology.

Second, as discussed in Section IV.E.6, the Board proposes to revise the criteria for users with limited vision in section 302.2. The existing 508 Standards require at least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require visual acuity greater than 20/70 to be provided in audio and enlarged print output working together or independently. The existing 255 Guidelines are similar, except that they define users with limited vision as users possessing visual acuity that ranges between 20/70 and 20/200. The proposed rule would require at least one mode of operation that magnifies, one mode that reduces the field of vision required, and one mode that allows user control of contrast where a visual mode of operation is provided. The proposed rule does not refer to visual acuity since comments in response to proposals in the 2010 and 2011 ANPRMs recommended that the criteria should address features that would improve accessibility for users with limited vision instead of using visual acuity as a measure of limited vision.

Third, there are two functional performance provisions in the existing 255 Guidelines that are not found in the functional performance criteria for existing 508 Standards: operations without time-dependent controls (255 Guidelines § 1193.41(g)) and operations with limited cognitive skills (255 Guidelines §1193.41(i)). There is a technical provision in the existing 508 Standards that corresponds to 255 Guidelines § 1193.41(g) requiring the operation of ICT without time-dependent controls (508 Standards §1194.22(p)). This is addressed in the proposed rule in WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable and 2.2.2 Pause, Stop and Hide. We propose to incorporate by reference WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria in proposed E207.2 and C205.2.

Fourth, the Board proposes not to include a functional performance criteria relating to limited cognitive skills. The existing 255 Guidelines provide a criterion for at least one mode of operation that minimizes cognitive skills required of the user (§ 1193.41(i)), while the existing 508 Standards have no parallel provision. Such a criterion has not been included in the proposed rule on the advice of the Advisory Committee, which recommended deletion of this criteria pending future research. (See Section VI.C (Section-by-Section Analysis - Application and Scoping).

Table 3 below provides a provision-by-provision summary of how the proposed rule would revise the existing functional performance criteria by comparing the criteria in proposed 302 (in the left-hand column of the table) to its counterparts in existing 508 Standards § 1194.31 (in the middle column of the table) and existing 255 Guidelines §1193.41 (in the right-hand column of the table).

Table 3 - Comparison of the Functional Performance Criteria in the NPRM and Existing 508 Standards and 255 Guidelines

[Click image above to view HTML version]