Web Accessibility - Oregon Department of Education

Web Site Policy

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Accessibility Statement
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 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 504 states that "no qualified individual with a disability in the United States shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under" any program or activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by any Executive agency.

Section 508 now establishes requirements for electronic and information technology developed, maintained, procured, or used by the Federal government. Section 508 requires Federal electronic and information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and members of the public.

In December 2000 the Federal Access Board issued final standards for electronic and information technology under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. These were adopted and published in the Federal Registrar in April 2001 with enforcement to begin June 21, 2001.

While these standards currently apply to federal government, it is the practice of the Oregon Department of Education and their web designers and developers to become familiar with these accessibility guidelines and to apply these principles in designing and creating official Oregon Department of Education web sites.

Access Instructions for Users with Disabilities
We are pleased to provide an alternative medium for accessing information about our programs and services. If you have any suggestions for improving the accessibility features of our web site, please contact ODE Helpdesk eMail

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Instructions for Users with Visual Disabilities
The ODE web site has been designed to be used with a screen reader. For instance, images on our web site are accompanied by a word image tag that may be visible if your browser supports the alt-text function.