The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education

What standards exist for developing and purchasing accessible software?

Printable Version

When making software procurement decisions, educational entities need to look critically at which products in a given software category will best serve the needs of all students, without excluding some on the basis of disability. To determine whether a software application is accessible, the application should be evaluated according to a set of guidelines or standards that defines software accessibility.

The only legal standard is Section 1194.21 ("Software applications and operating systems") of Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards. These standards were developed by the Access Board as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. There are twelve standards, and the Access Board provides a detailed explanation of each in its Guide to the Standards.

Additional guidelines and resources are provided in the AccessIT Knowledge Base article How can I tell whether a software application is accessible?

Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational, noncommercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged. For more information see the larger AccessIT Copyright Statement. AccessIT was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education (grant #H133D010306) through September 30, 2006; it is now maintained with funding from the National Science Foundation (grant #CNS-054061S). The contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the U.S. federal government, and you should not assume their endorsement.