Everything You Need to Know About Section 508 Compliance

In February 2006, a UC Berkeley student sued Target because their Web site was not Section 508 compliant.

As the student is blind, the lawsuit alleges that the retail giant’s Web site violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not making the site fully navigable by the visually impaired.

What you need to know:

Section 508 is basically adding ALT tags to images. The ALT tag is an intrinsic part of HTML that allows a blind user’s screen reader software to communicate to the user via audio what the tag is (should be a short description).

Without ALT tags, blind people would hear: “Target dot com, link, image…,” instead of: “Discovery.com Home page, photo of the Earth.”

Section 508 compliance refers specifically to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This law requires Federal agencies to purchase and provide electronic and information technology accessible by persons with disabilities.

Read our next article for information about technology-specific provisions that were developed, and what next steps were taken to ensure Web sites achieve compliance.