UnderCover Technologies
UnderCover Technologies is a motivated, pioneering new company that is attempting to turn the small business consulting arena on its head by providing a wide range of assistive, adaptive technology training and consulting services for employers, prospective employees, and individuals seeking independence in order to make a more ADA compliant, and inclusive community, workplace, and the world!.
Understanding the Law
When local governments are continually being asked to do more with less, the Internet is playing a vital role in allowing the government to better serve all of its citizens. If government entities receive Federal funding, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, generally require that State and local governments provide qualified individuals with disabilities equal access to their programs, services, or activities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of their programs, services, or activities or would impose an undue burden. One way to help meet these requirements is to ensure that government websites have accessible features for people with disabilities, An agency with an inaccessible website may also meet its legal obligations by providing an alternative accessible way for citizens to use the programs or services. We at UnderCover Technologies intends to fill that gap by providing the necessary training and consulting services in an effort to remove the barriers of accessing governmental services.
Role of the Federal Government:
Office of E-Government & Information Technology
Advancements have been at the center of a transformation in how the private sector operates—and revolutionized the efficiency, convenience, and effectiveness with which it serves its customers. The Federal Government largely has missed out on that transformation due to poor management of technology investments, with IT projects too often costing hundreds of millions of dollars more than they should, taking years longer than necessary to deploy, and delivering technologies that are obsolete by the time they are completed. We are working to close the resulting gap between the best performing private sector organizations and the federal government. The Office of E-Government and Information Technology (E-Gov), headed by the Federal Government's Chief Information Officer (CIO), develops and provides direction in the use of Internet-based technologies to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the Federal Government, save taxpayer dollars, and streamline citizen participation.
Services
UnderCover Technologies will offer consulting and training services pertaining to the accessibleness of both the workplace, which may include sensitivity awareness and training(upon request). Website accessibility consulting for both the private and public sectors of the community, which may include adaptive devices and software. These categories will define 95% of our operations.
Service Cost
Our services can be obtained through direct hourly compensation, or if preferred, or more applicable, through a contractual arrangement with pre-defined limits.
Resources for Web Developers
To make web pages accessible, the web developer needs to know about web page features that can make a web page less accessible or more accessible. Information about such features is easily available and many software developers are adding tools to web development software to make it easier to make web pages accessible.
Two important resources provide guidance for web developers designing accessible web pages. One is the Section 508 Standards, which Federal agencies must follow for their own new web pages. To learn more about the Section 508 Standards:
- The Access Board maintains information on its website at www.access-board.gov and has a useful guide for web developers at www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm
- The Department of Justice has information about accessible web page design in an April 2000 report to the President. This report is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/report/content.htm, and
- The General Services Administration hosts an online course for web developers interested in accessible web design. This program was developed in conjunction with the Access Board, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education and provides an interactive demonstration of how to build accessible web pages. This course is available at www.section508.gov, which also provides information about the Federal government’s initiative to make its electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
- A more comprehensive resource is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative. These guidelines help designers make web pages as accessible as possible to the widest range of users, including users with disabilities. The Web Accessibility Initiative is a subgroup of the World Wide Web Consortium — the same organization that standardizes the programming language followed by all web developers.
- Information for web developers interested in making their web pages as accessible as possible, including the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (and associated checklists), can be found at www.w3c.org/WAI/Resources
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