Web Accessibility Statement
Because our web platform is sustainable and standards-based it natively supports many best of the best design and development practices. We use specific techniques for section 508 compliance. We try to go a step further by providing “findable” resources which are accessible to persons with disabilities.
Three areas of focus on accessibility:
- Device independence – our site works on many devices, readers and machines that aid persons with disabilities when using this site.
- Standards based code – this keeps our total cost of ownership down and insures the code is sustainable by many persons. Excellent documentation of the architecture and site content are available to everyone in the community.
- Meeting the needs of our visitors and the law – We encourage feedback and participation on this site. Listening to the feedback of our visitors helps us identify and target areas for improvement. Your feedback also helps us understand which areas are most effective.
If you experience any difficulty accessing the information provided on this web site or need further technical assistance, we are available to assist.
For help please contact the Web Team Help Desk using the form at the bottom of this page or email us at aloha at greencollartech.com.
Or feel free to call and ask us anything about this site at 808-896-7656.
from Hawaii State Civil Defense Special Needs Information page
People with disabilities may have special needs which make certain types of information inaccessible over the internet. Web site development taking accessibility considerations in mind is not only good practice, it is law. Although this mainly pertains to Federal agencies, this also applies to State entities as well.
from section508.gov:
Section 508 applies to the Federal government but there may be implications for employees and others at the State level. For additional information on States Section 508 requirements, please see NIDRR.
Many states have also passed legislation requiring electronic and information technology accessibility. Additional information on individual states that have passed accessibility legislation are available at http://www.ittatc.org/laws/.
There are a number of resources and links that may help you to ensure accessibility.
Here’s a few of the tools and resources we collected and compiled into a web accessibility podcast series for the Wow Technology Minute. These resources help make our site accessible to persons with disabilities.
- The Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) – analyzes web resources for markup that is consistent with the use of CITES/DRES HTML Best Practices for development of functionally accessible web resources that also support interoperability.
The CITES/DRES HTML Best Practices are not a new standard, but rather a statement of techniques for implementation of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and United States Federal Government Section 508 standards. - Wave 4.0 – WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM. It is used to aid humans in the web accessibility evaluation process. Rather than providing a complex technical report, WAVE shows the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the accessibility information within your page. Also try the toolbar.
- Resources at the Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility
- Register to Download the “Understanding Accessibility” eBook from HiSoftare!
- Design patterns for accessible, crawlable and indexable content
- Webmaster tips for creating accessible, crawlable sites
- Website Tips – The Accessibility category contains information to help designers, developers and Web site owners understand, learn, and create sites that are as accessible as possible to those with disabilities, text browsers and assistive technologies.
- List of Section 508 testing tools from Section 508.gov
- WebAIM Section 508 Checklist
- Microsoft Section 508 resources and Apple Accessibility Resources
