Section 508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies in the United States to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. It applies to all federal agencies and any organization that receives federal funding or contracts.
Overview
🏛️ Who Must Comply
- • All US federal agencies
- • Federal contractors and vendors
- • Organizations receiving federal grants
- • State agencies using federal funds
📋 What It Covers
- • Web content and applications
- • Software and operating systems
- • Hardware and telecommunications
- • Electronic documents and PDFs
2018 Refresh: Section 508 was updated in 2018 to incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the technical standard for web content. This means WCAG 2.0 AA compliance is the baseline for Section 508 web compliance.
Technical Standards
The 2018 Section 508 refresh aligns with WCAG 2.0 Level AA. The key technical requirements include:
Perceivable
- → Text alternatives for non-text content
- → Captions for audio/video
- → Adaptable content structure
- → Sufficient color contrast (4.5:1 for normal text)
Operable
- → Full keyboard accessibility
- → No keyboard traps
- → Sufficient time to read content
- → No content that causes seizures
- → Skip navigation links
Understandable
- → Readable and understandable text
- → Predictable page behavior
- → Input assistance and error identification
Robust
- → Compatible with assistive technologies
- → Valid, well-formed markup
- → Name, role, value for UI components
VPAT & Section 508
A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is the standard document used to demonstrate Section 508 compliance. Federal agencies typically require vendors to provide a completed VPAT — also called an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) — before procurement.
VPAT Sections for Section 508
- ✓ Chapter 3: Functional Performance Criteria
- ✓ Chapter 4: Hardware (if applicable)
- ✓ Chapter 5: Software
- ✓ Chapter 6: Support Documentation and Services
- ✓ WCAG 2.x Table (web content)
ConformPilot & Section 508
ConformPilot generates Section 508-compliant VPAT reports automatically. Select Section 508 as your compliance standard when running an audit to get a fully mapped ACR document.
- ✓ WCAG 2.0 AA automated testing
- ✓ Section 508 VPAT (ACR) generation in DOCX format
- ✓ Violation mapping to specific 508 chapters
- ✓ Authenticated scanning for government portals
- ✓ Multi-page crawl for complete site coverage