IDEAS 2008
On November 14, I attended the IDEAS 2008 conference in Arlington, VA hosted by the GSA. The conference was well attended by government Section 508 coordinators and I was able to network with quite a few of the Computer & Electronics Accommodation Program (CAP) coordinators. The information I received on government buying procedures, Section 508 tools and web site testing was well worth the expense and time spent. Some things I learned:
- Section 508 is an unfunded Federal government mandate. Up until six months ago the mandate was not well received or taken seriously by most agencies. Section 508 is beginning to gain traction.
- If you have products and services you want to sell to the Federal government, you should be listed in GSA Schedule 70, Buy Accessible Wizard and file a Volunteer Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) form.
- Documents should be Section 508 compatible. This is as important as web pages.
- Closed captioning is required and more tools are needed in this area.
- CAP coordinators are a great help for impaired employees. They have budget for their clients and can make recommendations.
- It is not clear what the buying process or packaging strategy for product providers to the Federal government.
- The Federal government is committed to Section 508 at the implementation level. It is not clear at the Agency CFO level what the commitment is. (This was a main topic of discussion in the show floor.)
Helen Chamberlain, the GSA Section 508 Director, hosted many of the breakout sessions and did an outstanding job of facilitating discussions and answering questions. This was a worthwhile event to attend. I will try to attend next year.