[games_access] Accessibility and laws ?

[Mark Barlet]

Well to chime in on this, because I am in the software biz for the federal
government or 10 years here in the Washington DC area, and at one time in my
life an expert on 508.

Eelke, you are half right here. The only folks that are required to comply
with 508 are federal government agencies, and only to the extent of where
their data is exposed to the public or employees. Here is what it says...

"Section 508 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain,
or use electronic and information technology, Federal employees with
disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is
comparable to the access and use by Federal employees who are not
individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on
the agency."

So, an example here would be the website from the IRS, or forms they allow
to be filled out on the web. Those all have to comply with the law.

Now that said, many states have adopted state level laws that bring 508 into
state level governments, and that is where university come into play. State
run university are compelled to comply with 508 once the state adopts the
law on a state level.

I say all of that to say this, 508 has HUGE LOOPHOLES. You do not need to be
508 compliant if your application, by its nature, cannot be 508 compliant,
so let's say a video game. Further, you can also not be 508 compliant if no
508 alternative is available.

Part (e) of Section 1194.3 says "(e) This part shall not be construed to
require a fundamental alteration in the nature of a product or its
components. "

So to go back to the original question, in the US I dare say NO GAME is
required to be accessible, because one can argue, and be right for the most
part that 508 "require a fundamental alteration in the nature of a product
or its components. " and also "unless an undue burden would be imposed on
the agency". As long as you can argue that there is no way to make said
product accessible to persons with disabilities, and still be what it was
meant to be, say a game, then it can be excluded from the law...

Last point, and this is why I think 508 and games is never going to happen
(and I think never should happen) is because 508 is an all or nothing law,
you are 508 compliant, or you are not. So if your product can be used by
everyone in the world with physical disabilities, and the blind cannot use
it, you are not 508… So I would say, and I am no lawyer, but I think you
would be hard pressed to sue a school who used a non 508, off the shelf,
game as a teaching aid in a classroom, or be sued for using one.

NOW, if you are making a game that is designed for school and one of the
goals of the game is to help, or train folks with disabilities, I would
think that is a marketing thing...

You are welcome to contact me directly if you want to yell at me, debate me
on the law as it is written or just to say hello.

Mark Barlet
Editor-in-Chief
AbleGamers.com


PS sorry for my spelling, I am at work, and not a lot of time to give at the
moment.


On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 10:45 AM, Eelke Folmer <eelke.folmer at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Sandra,
>
> Here in the US Section 508 of the rehabilitation act states that all
> federal agencies (including universities relying upon federal funding)
> make their information accessible.
>
>
> So if someone wants to use a game in their classroom in theory it has
> to comply with this act but I doubt whether that happens a lot. I'm
> not sure about the legal issues can you sue a university for not
> providing you with an accessible alternative?
>
> Cheers Eelke
>
>
> On 05/08/2008, Sandra Uhling <sandra_uhling at web.de> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I would like to know,
> > in which countries games used in schools require to be accessible.
> > And what laws are important.
> >
> > With this information it will be much easier to discuss about it.
> > And to show that this is an important thing for companies that
> > are developping games for use in schools.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Sandra Uhling
> > _____________________________________________________________________
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> >
>
>
> --
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Eelke Folmer                           Assistant Professor
> Department of CS&E/171
> University of Nevada              Reno, Nevada 89557
> Game interaction design        www.eelke.com
>
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