Enclosure (2) to COMDTINST 5230.60A
BACKGROUND
Section 508 implementation is critical to e-government in this era of reliance on information
technology. Based on Bureau of Census statistics from 1994, over 54 million, or 20.6 percent of
Americans, have a disability. The number is growing. In the first quarter of 2000, more than 5
million Americans joined the online Internet world that had surpassed 100 million users in 1999.
Estimated e-mails transmitted that year range as high as 4 trillion. Every 24 hours, the web
increases by more than 3.2 million new pages and more than 715,000 images. On August 7,
1998, the President signed into law the Workforce Investment Act, reference (d), that amended
the Rehabilitation Act by expanding and strengthening Section 508. Section 508 now refers to
enforceable technical standards and performance based requirements that focus on the functional
capabilities covered by technologies to facilitate their use by persons with disabilities. This dual
approach recognizes the dynamic and continually evolving nature of the technology involved as
well as the need for clear and specific standards to facilitate compliance. Certain provisions of
the standards are designed to ensure compatibility with the assistive technology that people with
disabilities commonly use for information and communication access, such as screen readers,
Braille displays, and TTYs. Section 508 does not require Federal agencies to retrofit existing
technologies; but complaints and lawsuits can be filed against EIT products that are procured and
do not conform to the provisions of the standards. Federal employees and members of the public
with disabilities also have rights under Section 501 and 504, reference (a), that require agencies
to make information available to them by an alternative means. Section 504 and 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act are complementary. Whereas Section 504 focuses on individual
accommodation, Section 508 emphasizes EIT infrastructure and standards.
Moreover, there are benefits to adopting the provisions of Section 508 that are specific to the
Coast Guard. The Section 508 standards facilitate cutter connectivity. Cutters and vessels at sea
that rely on high cost, restricted bandwidth benefit from the web-based Section 508 standards
that assure the substantial web page content will not be removed by specialized software
designed for maritime transmission that strips web pages of background images, converts color
images to black and white, removes unnecessary HTML code and compresses the page.
Telecommuters benefit from the Section 508 web-based standards in that substantial web content
will be available to telecommuters who disable graphics, animation and sound to make more
efficient use of bandwidth when remotely accessing the USCG data network (e.g., RAS).
Furthermore, Section 508 supports USCG information and human resource strategic goals.