FedStats 508/Accessibility Workshop

Some presentation materials now available, see Agenda and Presentations

Date: June 24, 2002

Location: Bureau of Labor Statistics Conference Center

Sponsor: FedStats Task Force of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy

Membership includes the 14 major Federal statistical agencies (See list of members)

FedStats (http://www.fedstats.gov/) is the interagency portal to statistical information from the Federal Government

Purpose: To help the Federal statistical community address the unique challenges they face in making their websites accessible to users with disabilities

Goal: To focus on ways that statistical agencies can meet the new accessibility requirements and make their Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Tables, statistical graphics, and formulas are used extensively by statistical agencies in the dissemination of statistical information on the Web. Accessibility requirements affect each of these elements, however, little attention has been paid to the accessibility of these elements in a statistical context.  

Topics:

• Tables (most pressing problem)
• Statistical graphics
• Formulas

Agenda and presentations

Examples of tables and statistical graphics

Target audience:

• Webmasters and content managers of statistical agencies
• Webmasters and content managers of other Federal agencies that produce many statistical tables
• Researchers
• Vendors (Assistive technology, Web editors and validators, authoring tools)
• Disability community

Future activities
A paper summarizing the following will be issued by the FedStats Task Force after the meeting:

• Discussion of current practices by the agencies
• Accessibility standards for tables, graphics, and formulas
• Outline of possible solutions that come out of the workshop (and the technology solutions currently available or being developed to support those practices)
• Discussion of areas that still need work--by agencies, vendors, or Access Board
• List of resources