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

E203.1 General (Section-by-Section Analysis)

This section proposes to require agencies to 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. While this provision would be new to the 508 Standards, it is consistent with current agency practice. The Board interprets the statutory requirement to provide comparable access to information and data to be consistent with granting access to all functionality of ICT. This proposed requirement was strongly supported by the Advisory Committee, as well as commenters to the 2010 and 2011 ANPRMs.