Why Should Businesses Invest in the 508 Document Remediation Process?

Back when disability first came to the limelight, governments and organizations around the world made every possible effort to provide an inclusive lifestyle to the population with special needs in every walk of life. However, those solutions, which included handrails, ramps, elevators, etc., were limited to the physical world only.

As the world progresses digitally, new forms of challenges come up for the population with special needs. To begin with, surfing the internet is not a cakewalk for everyone as it has various problematic features including orientation, navigation, defining search queries, evaluation information, selecting search results, downloading videos, reviewing products or services, sharing content, blog posting, and so on. With the motive to lessen this digital divide, there came the Section 508 amendment.

Getting the Basics Right

Take it this way-you are supposed to operate a computer but without a monitor or a mouse. Challenging, isn’t it? Such are the problems for people with disabilities. This blog discusses everything that businesses should know about Section 508 Accessibility and how 508 compliance services help them in bridging the digital gaps.

What is Section 508 Accessibility Compliance?

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act focuses on providing equal access to Communication and Information Technology to everyone. This ensures that whatever digital information businesses develop, procure, or maintain is easily accessible to the population with disabilities—as a result, the disabled population can easily use digital documents, services, as well as websites.

What is Section 508 Remediation?

To be Section 508 conformant, businesses and agencies need to add, edit, or change certain features of their digital documents (such as PDF, Word Files, emails, etc.), websites, and services. So, this process of redressing the documents, website, and services to make them accessibility compliant is known as 508 remediations.

In practice, organizations need to conduct all the applicable tests to identify the accessibility gaps and other such features that prevent people with disabilities from using their documents or websites. These issues are then rectified to make the document and/or website completely accessible to the disabled population.

Who Should Conform to 508 Compliance?

Federal agencies have to abide by Section 508 Accessibility law. In addition, IT products/services leveraged or purchased by these federal agencies should conform to the revised 508 accessibility standards. These can include computer software, hardware, telecommunications, multimedia, videos, and more.

And even if your business doesn’t fall under this category, it is advised to practice digital accessibility as an inclusive initiative. After all, businesses that incorporate cultural inclusivity and diversity create lasting impacts on their employees as well as customers.

Which Features Make a Document/Website Accessible?

Here’s a list of some of the features that businesses need to incorporate in their websites and digital documents such as PDF, Word files, PPT, etc., to make them accessible for everyone:

• Use appropriate alternative text for images, plug-ins, and other media content to let visually impaired people understand its meaning
• Insert captions and subtitles for video and audio files so that people with hearing disabilities can grasp this content
• Writers should add identification marks for rows and columns so that assistive technologies read them in the correct order
• While designing web pages, web designers should follow proper color contrast themes. In addition, moving elements in a document or webpage shouldn’t flash too quickly

What are the Benefits of Complying With Section 508 Accessibility Standards?

Businesses, irrespective of the industries or verticals they deal in are making ‘digital accessibility’ their topmost priority. What are some of the probable reasons? It is because 508 accessibility is more than just compliance; it is a business opportunity in guise. Organizations can reap an array of benefits, some of which are listed below:

• Improved Search Engine Ranking Organically

Digital documents and websites with accessibility features such as text-to-speech and zoom-in undoubtedly help both the general and the disabled population, delivering an improved experience to the end-user. Scrolling through the content and grasping it becomes much easier, upgrading the overall performance of the websites and the documents. In addition, businesses get a better search engine ranking organically.

• Billion Dollar Opportunity

According to Forrester, people with disabilities comprise the world's largest minority market which spends close to $2 trillion annually. This number is too huge to be missed out on. Hence, organizations with accessible documents and websites can tap this huge market and gain people with disabilities as their new consumers, resulting in increased business outreach.

• Room for Collaboration

Collaborating with any of the federal agencies in the USA demands businesses be 508 compliant. But there are different accessibility codes in other countries such as DDA in the UK and Australia. Many of these follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and are similar to Section 508 accessibility compliance. Hence, making your documents and websites accessible is the key to collaborating with such companies. You can rely on professionals to help you with PDF remediation and so on. Not only do you get better international clients for your business, but also carve a unique niche for yourself in the industry.

• Prevent Legal Consequences

Not conforming to Section 508 Accessibility compliance can land organizations in serious trouble. Not only do they have to pay penalties, but also get their digital documents, websites, and services revamped. Hence, they have to pay for oth the cause and the consequence. This creates a negative impact on your audience and you might end up losing on opportunities a big time. Hence, it is better to conform to industry standards and accessibility compliances.

What Next?

You have understood the features and benefits of 508 Compliance, but the process of remediating documents and websites is a significant undertaking. It requires a dedicated amount of time and resources to be amended. Otherwise, you either end up losing prospects or miss out on important information.

To overcome these, you can always fall back on trusted document remediation companies. They know what it takes to redress a document and help you meet the enhanced accessibility standards easily. Above all, you can maintain your competitive edge in the industry with the help of professionals as they deliver assured quality outcomes within the stipulated time and budget.