ACCESSIBILITY

Efforts have been made, and are continually being made, to assure this website's compliance with multiple standards of accessibility for people with disabilities.

Section 508 accessibility standards

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was amended in 1998 to define legal standards of accessibility to electronic communications and information technology for people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual's ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508, agencies must give disabled people access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

For more information on Section 508, visit these websites:

W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created in October 1994 to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. Among numerous technical standards, specifications and protocols developed by W3C is the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) which promotes a high degree of usability of the web for people with disabilities.

In 1999, as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative, the W3C issued the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG), which explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities.

For more information on the W3C, the WAI and WCAG, visit these websites: