At the upcoming RSA Conference I'll be presenting an Expert Talk at the CA Technologies Booth #1630 on our Accessibility Program. Now Accessibility has very little to do with Security, and yet our Security Products are raising the bar in this area. In today's blog let me explain why Accessibility is important to CA Technologies, and clear up some misconceptions as well.
First let's clear up some definitions: Accessibility very simply means that people with disabilities can use a given product/ application. More specifically, accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with a product, and that they can contribute to it. Accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging, and provides usability benefits for all, such as easy keyboard navigation.
CA Technologies Accessibility Program goal is to go beyond legal requirements and encourage the creation of efficient, easy-to-use solutions for all users. 
We want to be a recognized industry leader in advancing the cause of universal access. Wait a minute...did I say legal requirements? Yes there are U.S. laws that have impacted our strategy. Let's discuss them now.
- Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, requires all U.S. government agencies to "ensure that ... people with disabilities ... have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access of those without disabilities." This means that whenever we sell software to the U.S. government they want to know that all Federal employees can use our products. We prove this access by providing VPATs (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template). With VPATs vendors "voluntarily" state 508-compliance. VPATs are actually required despite the "voluntary" title. We need VPATs for every product released.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is often confused with Section 508 but currently addresses more physical issues, like the requirements for wheel chair ramps. However ADA also is undergoing a revision to adopt many of the items in Section 508. When ADA came out the internet was not as widely used. Now if you want to apply for a job, or buy many products, often the only way to do it is via technology like computers or mobile devices. When and if the ADA changes being proposed go into effect (and this would require an act of Congress), the impact will be that enforcement will no longer be limited to Federal employees and customers, but also commercial entities that have websites, e-commerce systems, etc.
Accessibility is not only a U.S. issue. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), has developed standards that are more specific that the current version of Section 508. It is focused on web accessibility and provides a vast array of resources for technology including guidelines, tools, education and outreach and research/development. The WAI developed Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG2.0) and these are now the standard that Europe and Canada require when we sell software to not only governments but a growing number of commercial entities including financial services firms.
In the U.S., accessibility is binary; either you are or you are not. However when a product is 508-compliant the agency MUST give priority to that product. Demand for vendor-furnished software products by the U.S. government will increase from $6.5B in 2010 to $8.4B in 2015 (according to INPUT's Federal Software Products Market research) at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2 percent. The software addressable market in Europe is $1.7B. So it also makes business sense to be accessible.
CA Technologies security products are all aiming for 508-compliance. With each release, these products have improved their position, but it's a marathon not a sprint and and we will go the distance.