What is the difference between Section 508 and 504?

1 in 5 people have a disability and there are 6 billion non-English speakers worldwide. Yet, when it comes to accessibility and digital inclusion of non-native English speakers, many people are simply not accounted for. In most cases, they are an afterthought or worse, turned away until there is legislation requiring specific accommodation. No matter how much we preach about diversity and inclusion, it is lip service until every employee, student and citizen is accounted for.

What is the Section 508 rule?

As part of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 is an amendment to the federal law that mandates companies to make technology and information accessible and easily understood by people with disabilities to ensure that the same opportunities can be extended to everyone. Section 508 is enforced by the US Access Board.
Companies are also required to be up to date on all amendment developments for making their communications and online platforms, like online training and websites, more accessible for all federal employees as well as anyone who needs to use them.
In other words, employees and citizens with disabilities should have equal access to things like:

• Training
• Tasks on computers
• Use of equipment in the office
• Websites

What is the Section 504 rule?

For non-federally funded organizations there is a Section 504 rule. It is applicable to all public and private institutions, such as companies, schools and educational institutions.
Section 504 requires agencies to provide individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in their programs and benefit from their services, including the provision of information to employees and members of the public. Agencies must provide appropriate aids where necessary to ensure an equal opportunity. In considering what type of aids or accommodations to provide, agencies must give primary consideration to the request of the individual with a disability and shall honor that request, unless it can demonstrate that another effective means of communication exists. Types of accommodations may include:

• Conversion of text into audio for the blind or visually impaired
• Captioning, subtitles and descriptions of video for the deaf or hard of hearing (HoH)

Section 508 and Section 504 go hand in hand with others that aim to reduce, if not eliminate discrimination against the disabled in the workforce or society.

Related compliance laws

1. Section 503 prevents discrimination by the hands of contractors
2. Section 505 prevents employees from treating disabled employees differently
3. Title VI prevents discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. In other words, foreign language or non-native English speakers should have equal access to information and communications. Laws vary by region but in most areas, information must be available in the top five languages
4. The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 requires companies to have communication services that can be used by all members of the public

Have there been any revised 508 and 504 standards?

The access board has revised their standards for what is considered to acceptable. This is because of the very nature of technology; it is constantly evolving and improving which why every company always needs to remain updated. These standards are not only applicable nationally but on an international level as well.
The revisions are:

• A detailed focus on function
• Increased accessibility
• Widened consumer base
• Company alignment

These revisions are not only applicable for federal agencies and companies but also those that receive any sort of government funding or are vendors of companies. Even those companies that are to have partnerships or carry our transactions with such entities are advised to compel with Sections 508 and 504 of the rehabilitations act.

How will complying with these sections benefit you?

There are many benefits that can be achieved if you comply with Section 508 and Section 504 such as:

1. Eliminates Costs
   Keeping up with Section 508 and Section 504 may initially seem costly. However, fighting a lawsuit is far more costly and with just a few extra steps, you can ensure that your company is legally compliant. After that, you simply repeat the process for all newly created digital content. While you can fret over the short-term costs and hardships, in the longer run it can prove to significantly eliminate legal costs. It would also allow for companies to keep highly skilled employees, students, customers and constituents.
2. Increases Business and Utilization
   Section 508 and Section 504 are now part of the law that is implemented strictly, so if you decided to forego this requirement, you may be damaging your business or institution. Others may be less likely to use or carry out transactions with you because of the potential risk that it may be for them. Additionally, businesses and organizations like to associate themselves with others that are just as responsible as they are trying to be. Thus, by not complying, you may suffer actual revenue losses. On the flip side if you choose to go ahead and become 508 and 504 compliant, then you by providing services or products to all people even including the 20 percent of the disabled who may have been otherwise unable to avail your services. You also then attract additional business as you will have the ability to cater to a wider consumer base.
3. Improves Employee Productivity
   When tasks become easier to do, the pace at which work is completed increases. Having more user-friendly technology and processes can ensure that all workers can complete their tasks during working hours and as efficiently as possible without making any mistakes or suffering hardships. This would prevent repetition of delegation as well as prevent any confusions that may arise out of miscommunication. It would also entail that not only do you have productive employees but that there is an expanded market of talent and intelligence that your company can make use of. Harnessing everyone’s effort will become more fruitful.
4. Increases Satisfaction Rates
   As the world becomes are inclusive, factors like equal opportunities for all have become paramount. Complying with Section 508 and Section 504 can bring you higher satisfaction rates through your consumers, employees, citizens, students or parents. This is because all parties feel like they are being catered for in a natural manner that neither highlights their disabilities nor completely neglects them. This comfort is essential as this can ensure that your business or institution strives. Not only that but it also substantially improves your image. Thus, people are more likely to prefer you over the next best alternative.

Recent lawsuits filed due to inaccessibility

One of the most popular lawsuits filed against a large chain is the Domino’s Pizza case. A blind man sued them after his attempts to order food from their website failed while using screen-reading software. There are also many hospitals, hotels and other food chains that have been involved in legal disputes due to inaccessibility for people with disabilities.
With this growing trend, it seems like inaccessibility is going to turn into a hot topic in 2020. It makes sense that people with disabilities are fighting for their rights, but even if a business believes this to be an unfair requirement, there is the possibility of a lawsuit due to a lack of interest in updating their website.
The statistics show that at least one new ADA lawsuit was filed in 2019 when a website offered no accessibility features to disabled people looking to purchase items and food. These are alarming numbers that should serve as a wakeup call to any business that is yet to update their websites for this purpose.

Famous recent court cases

The Domino’s case is probably the one that is most commonly referred to due to the popularity of the chain, but the biggest concern is that many companies are not upgrading their websites to ensure that they are user friendly for that particular demographic. Failing to do this is like a time bomb when it comes to ADA lawsuits and this is more than enough of a reason to act.
The year 2020 may hold some new surprises as the coronavirus outbreak is forcing more people to make use of the internet to shop for food, items, services, and even health care solutions.

Conclusion

Legally, compliance with Section 508 and Section 504 is required by federal law. Ethically, it is the right thing to do. Financially, it makes business sense.
Here are 7 ways to make any information digitally accessible and inclusive:

About Natively Fluent

At Natively Fluent, we believe that information should be accessible to anyone, anywhere, regardless of language, location or ability. We strive to create a more digitally accessible and inclusive world through quality translations, voiceovers, videos, captions, subtitles, audio descriptions, and transcriptions in any language.

How can Natively Fluent help uphold Sections 508 and 504?

As a translation and media services company, we help our clients and potential business partners in several different ways so that they can become legally compliant and ethically responsible.

• Voiceovers
  We have a vast team of professional voice talent, native speakers and audio professionals that can help you create voiceovers so that you are accommodating to all blind or visually impaired employees, students and members of the community. These voiceovers can be done in any language and accent so that your digital content is as authentic as possible.For Businesses:
  We can create audio recordings of documents, emails, PowerPoint presentations, internal messages and announcements. We can record these in any language so that foreign or international employees are included and have access to the same information. We can also dub advertisements into different languages to expand your target market.

  For Universities, Colleges and Schools:
  We can create audio recordings of instructions, notes, syllabi, books, lectures and PowerPoint presentations. Lectures can also be dubbed into different languages so that foreign, international or ESL students have access to the same education as native English speakers.

• Translations
  We can translate information from any source language to any target language. All translations are done by hand by a native speaker with translation experience. When translating, we consider various factors such as demographics, medium and geographical location(s) of the target audience. Each translation is proofread by a second native speaker.
• Captions and Subtitles
  In addition to providing audio, we can also add captions and subtitles to videos in many languages. These can be used in training or marketing videos, tutorials, demos and even advertisements. This is useful especially for Multinational Corporations (MNCs) as employees can be trained similarly across all global franchises.
• Videos
  We have a production team with Hollywood experience that can create your video from the first shot all the way through post-production. We can convert any boring PDF, PowerPoint presentation or brochure into a visually stunning, engaging, downloadable and shareable video. Now you can reach a wider audience without the headache of trying to find a meeting room, coordinating across time zones or dealing with language barriers.
• Audio Descriptions
  An audio description is an additional audio track containing narration that describes what is happening on-screen, including physical actions, facial expressions, costumes, settings and scene changes. The track is optional and can be enabled or disabled. Make your content accessible to blind or visually impaired audiences in any language and achieve ADA compliance by adding an audio description to your video.
• Transcriptions
  Make your audible content accessible to the deaf or hard of hearing by converting your audio into written text. Your company can meet the needs of over 500 million with hearing loss and achieve ADA compliance by using transcription in any language.