Washington, DC

The DC.Gov web portal is committed to meeting federal government standards for making web content and applications usable for persons with disabilities. These "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards" were established by the Federal Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board to fulfill the mandate of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. Section 508 requires that all federal government agencies provide access to electronic information and data for persons with disabilities that is comparable to the access provided to other persons, unless doing so would impose an undue burden on the agency.

The standards themselves can be found at Volume 65, Number 246 Fed. Reg. Page 80499-80528 (December 21, 2000), or on the Section 508 website.

Some of the key requirements are as follows:

• Text will be provided for graphic elements.
• Web pages will be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color.
• Online electronic forms will allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functions required to complete and submit the forms.

If you use assistive technology, such as a screen reader, eye tracking device, voice recognition software, etc., and have difficulty accessing information on DC.Gov, please contact DC.Gov and provide the link (web address) of the material you tried to access, the problem you experienced, and your contact information. We can then coordinate with the proper agency to provide the information you are trying to access.

DC.Gov has an ongoing goal to upgrade agency sites to be more citizen-centric but the improvements are still in the initial stages. We are constantly making enhancements and updates to DC.Gov in an attempt to make it as accessible and user-friendly as possible and we are working with users with disabilities to review and implement changes to improve accessibility.

Read instructions about how to use the Listen function enabled by ReadSpeaker.

You can also contact the following District offices committed to equal rights and access:

• Department of Disability Rights
• Office of Disability Rights
• Office of Human Rights

To request an accommodation, please contact the agency ADA Coordinator.