Issues seem to just “jump out of the woodwork” when participation of people with disabilities is a concern. We, who are people with disabilities, want to participate. Other agencies and organizations don’t expect that we will. It can become frustrating.
What to do?
I often find web sites that are not accessible. The same holds true for conferences, meetings, facilities and the like.

Readers of these pages probably know that transportation and the Maine Department of Transportation have been the subjects of articles here before. Transportation is such an essential service and it is often so unavailable or hard to access. Participation in transportation issues seems to suffer the same fate as the transportation itself, unavailable and often hard to access.

So what do we do? Push on, make our voices heard, clearly state our issues and make our case.

I recently noticed an article about the “East West” highway --- something that Maine and other states are now studying. The article offered a link to a web site and survey so people could participate in the study. I’ll reproduce Emails below so you can see what happened.

From Steve Hoad,
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 1:27 PM
To: Michaud, Fred
Cc:
gweisbrod@edrgoup.com;
mcollins@edrgroup.com
Subject: (Northeast CanAm Connections: Integrating the Economy &
Transportation)

Hello,

Upon visiting your web site to fill out your public survey, I find that it is not accessible under terms of Section 508 law.

Since this project is being carried out under a Federal grant and is operated, in part, by the Maine Department of Transportation, it is neither legal nor appropriate to have an inaccessible survey tool for public or interagency use.

I will expect to hear from someone in your organization(s) soon regarding this matter. Otherwise, I plan to be in touch with Federal transportation Department officials, the U.S. Justice Department, and Governor Baldacci of Maine. There are accessible survey tools which conform to Section 508 guidelines. If you need information about Section 508 visit www.508.gov

Please respond to this issue within 10 business days.

Thank you,

I sent that Email to the project director at Maine Dot, the consultants on the project plus a separate copy to the vendors of software being used on the site.
They replied quickly saying:
Hi Steve,

Thanks for your note. My company, Global Moxie, produces the Big Medium content management system; it sounds like the site you reference may use this software to manage portions of their site. However, I'm not responsible for the design or content of my customers' sites, and aside from providing the Big Medium software, I have no affiliation with them.

To the degree that my software generates HTML for the sites, it is fully compliant with section 508 guidelines. My guess is that the customer has either used a custom design or third-party survey software that has introduced the non-compliant HTML that you describe. Big Medium is not a provider of online surveys, so I'm guessing they're using another website or software to provide this function.

I suggest that you contact the webmaster of the site in question to pursue this matter.

All best,
Josh

::
:: Josh Clark
:: Global Moxie
::
support@globalmoxie.com

I had decided to wait the full ten business days before taking any action. It is only prudent to give organizations time to untangle their mistakes. Finally, I received the following Email Sent :
Friday, April 13, 2007 11:39 AM
Mr. Hoad:

Your e-mail concerning the accessibility of the Northeast CanAm Connections Web site was directed to the MaineDOT Office of Communications. As you correctly point out, MaineDOT is responsible to comply with federal and state accessibility requirements for Web sites that are sponsored by the department, even if they are not hosted by the department. The State of Maine Web portal administrators have made accessibility a very high priority, and state agencies are provided with information and enforcement tools to maximize accessibility for users.

In this instance, I acknowledge that the site was not in conformance, and I appreciate your having brought this to our attention. Since you wrote, the study consultant has been very eager to undertake the necessary steps to assure ADA compliance, and we have worked to provide them with the information necessary for the site to become compliant. Where alternative formatting is not practicable, information will be provided to assure that site visitors can easily obtain information or participate in the interactive functions (e.g., surveys) that appear on the site.

I'm confident that the site accessibility will be corrected to your satisfaction by the end of next week. If you have further observations or questions, please feel free to contact me.

Herb Thomson, Director
MaineDOT Office of Communications
207-624-3030

We must Push forward, brothers and sisters!

041707