Achieving and maintaining Section 508 compliance requires proactivity and expertise. That’s why we’re proud to have several team members, including Chief Accessibility Officer Jonathan Avila, who have received their Section 508 Trusted Tester Certification from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Accessible Systems & Technology (OAST). The DHS’s Trusted Tester program helps facilitate a standardized approach to ensuring software and web applications meet the Section 508 requirements.Â
So, what exactly is a Section 508 Trusted Tester—and what role do these certified professionals play in upholding accessibility standards? In this blog, we’ll provide context on Section 508 and explore how working with a Trusted Tester can help your organization satisfy its compliance obligations under the law.
What is Section 508?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a U.S. law that mandates federal agencies ensure their information and communication technology (ICT) is accessible to employees and members of the public who have disabilities. The law requires that agencies provide people with disabilities with access that is comparable to that experienced by individuals without disabilities.
The current Section 508 standards apply to any ICT that federal agencies “procure, develop, maintain, or use.” Section 508 aims to eliminate accessibility barriers in ICT, expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities, and encourage the development of technologies that support these goals. For more insights, read The Complete Guide to Section 508 Compliance.
What is a Section 508 Trusted Tester?
A Section 508 Trusted Tester is a certified professional authorized to independently deliver accurate Section 508 compliance test results for software and web applications. Trusted Testers perform accessibility evaluations in alignment with the DHS Section 508 Compliance Application Test Process, using approved testing tools.
The DHS originally established the Trusted Tester program in an effort to promote consistent approaches to Section 508 compliance across different federal agencies. This initiative certifies individuals to evaluate software and web applications, ensuring they meet all Section 508 accessibility standards.
In the long term, the DHS’s goal is for federal agencies to adopt a unified, government-wide testing approach, facilitating reliable and repeatable testing across agencies.
Why is Section 508 Trusted Tester Certification important?
Trusted Tester Certification ensures that Section 508 testing is thorough, consistent, and aligned with the standards outlined by the law. Certified Trusted Testers are trained to accurately assess digital content and applications for Section 508 compliance, enabling organizations to confidently deliver accessible services to all users, including those with disabilities.
Beyond strengthening compliance efforts, working with certified testers also helps agencies streamline their testing processes and avoid costly accessibility errors. Finally, enlisting the services of Trusted Testers reflects an organization’s commitment to inclusivity and improving user experience.
How do you become a Section 508 Trusted Tester?
The Trusted Tester Training Track is provided by the DHS’s Office of Accessible Systems & Technology. Students earn their certification after passing the Trusted Tester Certification exam.
To develop the program, the DHS collaborated with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to establish baseline tests. These tests were rigorously vetted by a best practices team to ensure alignment with current Section 508 standards, which incorporate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
How does the Trusted Tester Certification benefit you as a client?
Our Trusted Testers have an in-depth understanding of baseline tests that are used across federal agencies to evaluate Section 508 compliance. These experts are certified to perform Section 508 compliance testing for clients that need to meet the law’s requirements.
Additionally, we collaborate with clients to develop testing processes, based on baseline tests, that are aligned with the DHS testing procedures.
Your Section 508 testing checklist
At a high level, the process for conformance testing aims to pinpoint common accessibility issues that impact Section 508 compliance. Testing covers many aspects of a digital experience, including:
1. Keyboard access: All functionality of a digital experience must be operable through a keyboard interface, ensuring full access without the need for a mouse.
2. Repetitive content: Mechanisms must be available for users to bypass or skip content that repeats on multiple pages, facilitating easier navigation.
3. Images: All meaningful images should include equivalent descriptions. Interactive images should be accompanied by descriptions that detail their role and state, and decorative images should be named or described. The meaning of all images must remain consistent throughout an experience.
4. Headings: Headings must accurately describe the purpose or topic of the associated content. Text identified as a heading should function as a heading in practice. Visual headings should be made accessible through code-based recognition and heading levels must logically align with the page’s structure and hierarchy.
5. Color contrast: The visual presentation of text and images of text must maintain a sufficient contrast ratio to support readability for individuals with low vision.
6. Links: Each link’s purpose must be clear, either from the link text alone or in combination with its programmatically determined context, aiding in intuitive navigation.
What are the testing methods for Section 508 compliance?
Now that we’ve covered some of the conditions that digital content needs to meet to be accessible, let’s explore the testing methods used to understand whether ICT satisfies Section 508 requirements. Our professional testers employ several types of evaluation to assess compliance with Section 508:
- Automated testing: Leveraging automated tools, we scan digital content to efficiently identify common errors and gauge its baseline level of accessibility.
- Manual testing: Employing a documented, consistent, and repeatable process, our experts manually assess content to identify and address accessibility issues that automated tools might miss.
- Functional testing: Native users of assistive technology aim to complete important tasks in a digital experience the way an end-user would, providing insight into an experience’s real-world usability for people with disabilities.
Our Trusted Testers take a hybrid approach to evaluation, combining the speed of automated tools with the thoroughness of manual and functional testing. While automated testing tools allow for testing a high volume of content, technology cannot replace human judgment. Manual and functional testing are critical to delivering comprehensive and reliable results.
Beyond evaluations, our experts can provide the technical guidance that teams need to address a broad range of accessibility challenges, proactively building accessibility into design and development processes for ongoing compliance.
Level Access Trusted Testers: A holistic approach to accessibility
Section 508 compliance isn’t optional for U.S. federal government agencies; it’s a requirement. However, navigating the complexities of Section 508 can be challenging without the right expertise and resources. By partnering with Level Access, you gain access to our team of professional testers who specialize in comprehensive accessibility evaluations.
Furthermore, our testers stay up to date on the latest accessibility standards and best practices, ensuring that your ICT solutions not only meet Section 508 requirements today, but also maintain accessibility over time.
If you’re ready to bring your organization into compliance with Section 508, reach out to our experts today.
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