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.
