legislationOver the years Congress has enacted legislation to make opportunities available to all segments of the population.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 established Disability Rights as Civil Rights covered by 14th amendment. The goals of the law are to provide effective communication and nondiscriminatory access to programs and services
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act established:
- Educational programs that receive federal funds must comply with regulation.
- No otherwise qualified individual shall be excluded from participation or be subject to discrimination solely by reason of their disability.
- Students with a disability must be provided equally effective access to all programs, activities and services
- Provide reasonable accommodations when programs and services cannot be made accessible
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 reinforced and extended Section 504, requiring equitable access to public programs and services, regardless of whether or not the programs are federally funded. While the Rehabilitation Act focused on institutions and agencies receiving federal funds, fundamental to ADA is to create the most integrated setting as possible . Thus ADA:
- Extended the "non-exclusion" to all governmental and non-governmental entities
- Required equitable access to everything including buildings, transportation, communication, education, workplace, devices and office equipment
- Required that when equal access cannot be provided, reasonable accommodation must be made available to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities
- Uses total institutional budget as the measure of "reasonableness" in regards to need to accommodate.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996: Section 255
- Required all telecommunications devices and services be made fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.
- Case law under ADA has held that communication is a means to transfer information, thereby includes all online services and activities
- Computers are considered a telecommunication device.
- Increased the standard from "Reasonable" to "Readily Achievable"
As the Internet became a ubiquitous space for communication, business transactions, services, education, learning and the vast repository of information, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended 29 U.S.C. § 794 (d), includes comparable access to electronic and information technology (EIT) provided by the Federal Government to people with disabilities
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) was designated to developed and published standards covering accessibility of EIT resources. These standards address the functionality and performance of IT resources and established that:
- The EIT resources be compatible with assistive technology (AT) and readily usable by people with a disability with or without the use of AT.
- Design should focus on the accessibility of EIT recourses rather then the AT used by an individual.
April 2000 U.S. Attorney General Report held that:
- Accessibility should be integrated in the earliest stages of design, development, and procurement of IT resources
- Use of an "ad hoc" or "as needed" approach to web accessibility will result in barriers for persons with disabilities
North Carolina Gen. Stat. § 168A-7; Section 3, Discrimination in Public Services:
- Includes equivalent services be provided using information technology.
- Requires all State or local government agencies, including colleges, to make electronic material accessible
