Clear Impact Suite Changes to Reflect Section 508 Compliance and Accessibility for the Future

By: James Wall
August 18, 2023

We Have and Continue to Update All of Our Software to Remain Compliant With the Latest ADA Requirements. Read this blog to learn more about the changes, the requirements, and the benefit to users.

1. What Is the Rehabilitation Act and Why is it Important to Comply?

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, “as Amended (Rehab Act) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, in programs receiving federal financial assistance, in federal employment and in the employment practices of federal contractors.” Section 508 of this legislation “requires federal agencies to ensure that their information and communication technology (ICT) is accessible to people with disabilities unless certain exceptions apply.” This section was implemented in 1998 when the Department of Justice mandated that all federal agencies carry out self-evaluations. The first was completed in 1999, and subsequent self-evaluations were conducted in 2001, 2004, 2011, and 2021-2022. The most recent summary report was published in 2023.

2. Changes That We Have Made to Address Noncompliance Concerns and Remain Compliant

Because Clear Impact software is utilised by government agencies and organisations that receive federal funding, we too conducted a self-evaluation of our software. Once submitted, the self-evaluation was subject to an audit and concerns were outlined. The audit mentioned was identified as resolved by our team in the Summer of 2021. Below are the most recent changes to our software’s UI that support accessibility and ADA compliance:

1. Color Contrast Changes

One of the concerns that was addressed was color contrast changes for those who are colorblind and sight impaired. This is important because chrome accessibility tools now include a contrast check.

Example of color contrast in Scorecard compliant with Section 508.

2. Video Accessibility

We have also worked on creating and editing videos for the deaf and hard of hearing so that the content in our software will be easier to understand. Another helpful feature that we have included in our software to improve accessibility is allowing for screen readers to better and more accurately describe an image if our system attempts to display one. This will make it easier for those that are sight impaired to use Compyle and Scorecard. Additionally, Compyle will translate entirely into the language your browser or computer is set on, which is more than our competitors are offering at the moment. This is helpful to those clients who we serve outside of the United States and greatly improves usability, not to mention we are ahead for when the European Accessibility Act takes effect in 2025.

All of our videos now have closed captioning.

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4. Final Thoughts and Useful Links

Though we have resolved the compliance concerns listed in the self-evaluation audit, we continue to improve the accessibility and usage of our software through additions that are unrelated to section 508 compliance. In addition we are currently working on making Compyle and Scorecard a more uniform design. They are both compliant individually with section 508 as it is, however, we believe that it will make it easier on users if both of them are the same layout, especially if a client has chosen to purchase Suite. At Clear Impact we want to make sure that all individuals have access to our performance management software so that we can make their job easier and more efficient.

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