--- name: us-section-508 description: US Section 508 (Rehabilitation Act) — Revised 508 Standards (2018 refresh) for US federal agencies and contractors. WCAG 2.0 AA baseline + hardware/software/docs rules. Triggers on "Section 508", "508 compliance", "VPAT", "ACR", "federal accessibility", "ICT accessibility", "GSA Section 508". allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Edit --- # US Section 508 — Revised Standards Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires US federal agencies — and anyone selling ICT to them — to make electronic and information technology accessible. The **Revised 508 Standards** (US Access Board, effective 18 Jan 2018) harmonize with **WCAG 2.0 Level A + AA** and add hardware, software, and docs requirements. Target WCAG 2.2 AA in practice (matches ADA Title II DOJ 2024 rule + future-proofs against 508 refresh). Always load `rules/accessibility.md` first. ## Scope — when this skill applies - The project is developed **by or for** a US federal agency. - The project is **sold to** a federal agency (procurement / GSA Schedule). - The project needs a **VPAT® / ACR** (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template → Accessibility Conformance Report) to bid on federal contracts. - The project is built for an agency **contractor** (SAT programs, universities doing federal research, etc.). If none of these apply, `us-ada` is the relevant US skill instead. ## What 508 requires beyond WCAG - **E205 Electronic Content** — all public-facing + 9 categories of agency-official content meet WCAG 2.0 AA. - **E207 Software** — platform accessibility services must be usable; user preferences honored (fonts, colors, focus, etc.). - **E208 Support Documentation & Services** — manuals, help, training, customer service itself must be accessible. - **503 Software** — a UA (user agent) specific: support AT via accessibility APIs, expose name/role/state, focus, keyboard, etc. - **504 Authoring Tools** — authoring tools must support creating conforming content + prompt authors. - **602 Support Documentation** — alternate formats available on request; accessibility features documented. - **Chapter 7 — Hardware** (kiosks, phones, printers) if in scope. ## VPAT / ACR If the user needs to ship a VPAT: - Use the **latest VPAT template** from ITI (currently VPAT 2.5Rev): Section 508 edition. - An ACR is the filled-in VPAT documenting your product's conformance. - Report **per criterion** with status: Supports / Partially Supports / Does Not Support / Not Applicable. - Each "Partial / Does Not" needs a remarks explanation. - Date the ACR and refresh whenever the product's a11y posture changes materially. ## Success criteria overlay - **WCAG 2.0 A + AA** (all SCs) — plus by convention ship WCAG 2.2 AA. - **E204.1 Video** — closed captions on synchronized media (beyond WCAG, captions must be user-selectable on/off). - **E205.3 Electronic documents** — agency-produced PDFs, PPTs, DOCX must be tagged / structured. - **E207.2 WCAG conformance** — software built for agencies must meet WCAG as a UA-conformance target. - **503.2 Privacy** — if the product offers privacy features (captions, AD, alternatives), they must have same privacy protections as normal features. - **503.4 Caption controls / AD controls** — at least as easy to reach as the volume control. ## Federal stack notes - **USWDS** (U.S. Web Design System) — if used, its components are 508-aligned. Check version (3.x+). - **21st Century IDEA Act** — federal websites must be accessible, secure, consistent, searchable. Overlaps with 508. - **Plain Writing Act 2010** — reading level guidance also required on federal sites. ## Common Problems (federal-specific) - PDFs published to agency sites without tags (E205.3). - Embedded video (YouTube) with auto-captions only — must be reviewed/corrected for 508. - Dashboards built on unreleased charting libs with no ARIA (no roles, no keyboard nav). - VPAT marked "Supports" wholesale without actual testing — both a compliance fail and a false cert risk. - GSA form PDFs with flattened form fields — not fillable by AT. ## Detection ```bash # USWDS detection rg 'uswds|@uswds' package.json src/ # YouTube/Vimeo embeds (need caption review) rg 'youtube\.com/embed|player\.vimeo' -g 'src/**/*' # PDF / Office docs served rg -i '\.(pdf|pptx?|docx?|xlsx?)' -g 'src/**/*' -g '!node_modules' # Chart libraries without ARIA (common: chart.js, recharts older versions) rg 'chart\.js|recharts|d3' package.json ``` ## Fix Patterns **User-selectable captions, meet 503.4 access parity:** ```tsx {/* a11y [508 §503.4 / WCAG 1.2.2]: caption toggle no harder to reach than volume */} ``` **Accessible chart pattern:** ```tsx {/* a11y [508 E207 / WCAG 1.1.1 + 1.3.1]: chart has text description + data table alternative */}
Annual caseload, fiscal year 2020–2025
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Caseload rose from 12,400 in FY20 to 18,900 in FY25, a 52% increase.

View data as a table {/* tabular data */}
``` **Federal-style HTML-first doc serving:** ```astro {/* a11y [508 E205.3 / DOJ Title II rule 2024]: HTML is primary; tagged PDF as alternate */} Policy X (HTML) Download PDF (tagged) ``` **VPAT-ready criterion comment in component:** ```tsx /** * a11y [VPAT — WCAG 2.0 SC 2.1.1]: Supports. All interactions reachable via keyboard; * arrow keys navigate grid cells, Enter activates, Escape exits edit mode. */ export function DataGrid(/* … */) { /* … */ } ``` ## Reporting ``` ## Section 508 fixes - src/components/Chart.tsx:14 — 508 E207 / WCAG 1.1.1 — added summary paragraph + data-table alternative - src/components/Video.tsx:9 — 508 §503.4 — caption track default; controls exposed - docs/508-acr.md — flagged: ACR last dated 2025-06; rerun after these fixes - follow-up: retag 14 legacy PDFs in /public/forms before VPAT refresh ``` If the user needs a VPAT/ACR document scaffolded, prompt them — this skill can generate one on request but won't invent conformance claims without testing evidence.