GSA’s Got Some New Tools for You

Section508.gov, the federal government’s website for IT accessibility, just got a facelift, and it’s awesome. What’s different, you ask? Well… everything. If you haven’t visited our site in a while, you might be surprised.

On June 1, GSA’s Government-wide IT Accessibility Program rolled out a new look and feel for Section508.gov and launched a total content rewrite. All guidance on the site now fully aligns with the Revised 508 Standards. If you want to learn more about how to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the new guidelines and standards, Section508.gov has the answers.

The redesigned website features a user friendly and accessible layout that helps you easily find clear, actionable guidance on topics such as:

• Managing a 508 Program – Guidance on running an agency’s IT accessibility program
• Accessibility Testing – Tools and methods to test websites, software, and electronic documents for conformance to the Revised Section 508 Guidelines and Standards
• Accessibility Laws and Policies – Overview of Section 508 and other IT accessibility laws and policies
• Buying and Selling ICT – Guidance for information and communication technology (ICT) vendors and federal employees purchasing ICT products and services
• Tools & Training – Training, playbooks, and support.
• News – News articles and updates from the Section 508 Blog

The Accessibility Team has received outstanding feedback on the relaunch from the user community so far:
“The site is much easier to navigate and understand.”
“The simplified interface and mobile responsiveness increases accessibility.”
“The new layout is more focused and task-oriented, specifically the Create page, which is sub-organized by the type of accessible content we need to create.”

GSA also offers other tools to support accessibility in addition to Section508.gov. We have relaunched our Buy Accessible Wizard as the Accessibility Requirements Tool (ART). ART empowers you to generate accessibility requirements language for procurement vehicles.

It works like this: Simply follow the prompts and answer questions about your procurement action. The ART tool will then generate IT Accessibility (Section 508) language that you can cut and paste directly into your procurement documents.

If you need help answering any questions in ART, contact your agency’s Section 508 Program Manager. GSA is also developing template language (coming soon) that you can quickly access through ART; this will support situations in which you know exactly what you need, but don’t want to have ART walk you through the entire process.

If you have questions about ART, please contact GSA’s ART Team at art@gsa.gov(link sends e-mail). For questions or feedback about Section508.gov, email GSA at Section.508@gsa.gov(link sends e-mail).

And for more information about ensuring that the technology you purchase is accessible, check out the tips in PEAT’s Buy-IT! tool.