| name | section-508 |
| description | US Section 508 ICT Accessibility Standards (revised 2017) knowledge base for accessibility assessment |
Section 508 ICT Accessibility Standards
This skill packages the US Section 508 ICT Refresh (revised 2017) standards as an accessibility assessment knowledge base. It covers four normative chapters: E202 (General Requirements), E205 (Electronic Content), E207 (Software), and E208 (Support Documentation and Services). Section 508 incorporates the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria by reference, so most clauses below carry WCAG cross-references that link into the sibling wcag-22 skill's per-guideline reference files (anchored at #sc-<n>-<m>-<k>).
Source: US Access Board, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Standards, https://www.access-board.gov/ict/. Section 508 standards are works of the US federal government and reside in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Clause summaries in this skill are paraphrased in the authors' own words for stylistic consistency with sibling W3C-licensed framework skills.
Clause Roll-up
| Clause | Title | Type | WCAG cross-ref | Reference |
|---|
| E202.1 | Accessibility | General | n/a | chapter-e202.md#clause-e202-1 |
| E202.2 | Definitions | General | n/a | chapter-e202.md#clause-e202-2 |
| E202.3 | Abbreviations | General | n/a | chapter-e202.md#clause-e202-3 |
| E202.4 | References to WCAG 2.0 | General | WCAG 2.0 A/AA (all SCs) | chapter-e202.md#clause-e202-4 |
| E205.1 | Scope | Content | n/a | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-1 |
| E205.2 | Technical Standards | Content | sc-1-1-1, sc-1-3-1, sc-1-4-3, sc-4-1-2 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-2 |
| E205.3 | PDF | Content | sc-1-1-1, sc-2-1-1, sc-4-1-2 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-3 |
| E205.4 | WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA | Content | WCAG 2.0 A/AA (all SCs) | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-4 |
| E205.5 | Audio Description | Content | sc-1-2-3, sc-1-2-5 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-5 |
| E205.6 | Captions | Content | sc-1-2-2, sc-1-2-4 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-6 |
| E205.7 | Flashing | Content | sc-2-3-1, sc-2-3-2 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-7 |
| E205.8 | Color Dependency | Content | sc-1-4-1 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-8 |
| E205.9 | Alt Text | Content | sc-1-1-1 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-9 |
| E205.10 | Tables | Content | sc-1-3-1 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-10 |
| E205.11 | Form Labels and Instructions | Content | sc-1-3-1, sc-3-2-2, sc-3-3-2 | chapter-e205.md#clause-e205-11 |
| E207.1 | Scope | Software | n/a | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-1 |
| E207.2 | General Exceptions | Software | n/a | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-2 |
| E207.3 | User Interface Standards | Software | sc-1-4-3, sc-2-1-1 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-3 |
| E207.4 | Keyboard | Software | sc-2-1-1, sc-2-1-2 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-4 |
| E207.5 | Keyboard Focus | Software | sc-2-4-3, sc-2-4-7 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-5 |
| E207.6 | Status, Prompts, and Results | Software | sc-3-2-1, sc-3-2-2, sc-4-1-3 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-6 |
| E207.7 | Contrast | Software | sc-1-4-3 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-7 |
| E207.8 | Flashing | Software | sc-2-3-1, sc-2-3-2 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-8 |
| E207.9 | Controls | Software | sc-2-1-1, sc-2-5-5, sc-3-2-1, sc-3-2-4 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-9 |
| E207.10 | Text Properties | Software | sc-1-4-12 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-10 |
| E207.11 | Animation and Motion | Software | sc-2-3-3 | chapter-e207.md#clause-e207-11 |
| E208.1 | Scope | Support | n/a | chapter-e208.md#clause-e208-1 |
| E208.2 | General | Support | n/a | chapter-e208.md#clause-e208-2 |
| E208.3 | User Support Services | Support | n/a | chapter-e208.md#clause-e208-3 |
| E208.4 | Accessible Documentation | Support | sc-1-1-1, sc-1-3-1, sc-1-4-3, sc-2-1-1, sc-4-1-2 | chapter-e208.md#clause-e208-4 |
Total: 30 clauses (E202: 4; E205: 11; E207: 11; E208: 4).
Assessment Heuristics
Use these heuristics when applying the Section 508 standard against an ICT artifact:
- Treat WCAG 2.0 Level AA conformance as the baseline target for any electronic content covered by E205, and confirm it by running WCAG-based automated tooling plus targeted manual checks for each cited SC.
- For software covered by E207, validate keyboard operation, visible focus, status announcements, and 4.5:1 contrast first; these account for the majority of real-world Section 508 findings.
- For PDF and office documents under E205.3, verify the source authoring tool produced a tagged structure rather than relying on post-hoc remediation, and provide an HTML alternative whenever a scanned PDF cannot be tagged.
- For documentation and support under E208, audit each support channel (phone, chat, email, training) for an equivalent accessible path before treating documentation alone as compliant.
- When a clause is marked
n/a for WCAG cross-reference, treat the Access Board URL as the authoritative source and rely on procurement and policy controls rather than automated WCAG tooling.
- Record every E207.2 exception with a documented rationale, a mitigation plan, and a review date so the exception does not silently expand over time.
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