Section 508

Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act requires that information and communication technology (ICT) used by the US federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. It covers websites, software, and electronic documents, and it applies both to what agencies build and to what they buy.

What it is

Section 508 is a US federal law that sets accessibility requirements for ICT. In plain terms, it says that the technology the federal government develops, procures, maintains, or uses must work for people with disabilities — the same as it does for everyone else. The original requirement dates to amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, but the version in force today is the 2017 update, commonly called the “508 Refresh.” That Refresh modernised the technical requirements for web content, software, and electronic documents by pointing directly at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines rather than maintaining a separate, ageing checklist.

Who must comply

Section 508 binds two groups. First, US federal agencies themselves: the technology they create, run, and publish has to meet the standard. Second, the vendors who sell ICT to the federal government — accessibility becomes a procurement requirement, so a product that is not accessible can be excluded from a federal purchase. It is a US federal-jurisdiction law; it does not directly govern private companies, US state and local government, or organisations outside the United States, though its WCAG-based core overlaps heavily with the standards that do.

Compliance is enforced through complaints and through those procurement requirements. Vendors typically document how their product conforms by supplying a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template), also known as an Accessibility Conformance Report, which agencies review during purchasing.

Relationship to WCAG

The 508 Refresh does not invent its own technical rules for web content. Instead it incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference. In practice, meeting WCAG 2.0 A and AA for your web content, software, and electronic documents is what satisfies the technical requirements of Section 508. That shared technical core is why the same engineering work — real labels, keyboard access, sufficient contrast, programmatic structure — counts toward Section 508, EN 301 549, and ADA obligations at the same time.

Key points

• Section 508 is part of the US Rehabilitation Act and applies to US federal ICT.
• The 2017 “508 Refresh” incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference for web content, software, and electronic documents.
• It binds federal agencies and vendors selling ICT to the federal government (procurement).
• Enforcement happens through complaints and through procurement requirements.
• Vendors commonly demonstrate conformance with a VPAT / Accessibility Conformance Report.
• Because the technical core is WCAG, the same fixes serve other WCAG-based standards too.

Related lessons

Section 508 points at WCAG, so the practical work is the same accessibility engineering taught across the Academy. Start with the Learn lessons to build the WCAG 2.0 A and AA skills that satisfy Section 508 in practice.