J.1 Implementation

There are numerous benefits associated with creating an accessible Office Open XML implementation. Office Open XML provides a rich infrastructure for creating content that meets the needs by people with disabilities, and enables them to read, create, and edit documents with full access to all of the semantics captured by the documents’ creators.

In addition to the moral and ethical reasons for creating accessible Office Open XML documents, it should be noted that failure to provide support for users with disabilities can have serious legal implications. Examples of these regulations include

Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act (508) (http://www.section508.gov) Section 255 of the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 (http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/telecom_language.html) International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC 171) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) (http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG10/) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/ Canadian Common Look and Feel (CLF) Guide 1.1 http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/clf-upe/1/1_e.asp

While there are laws (such as those above) designed to ensure that businesses do everything possible to maximize accessibility, there are other compelling reasons as well. Today, businesses are looking for solutions to empower and retain employees—and accessible technology can help do just that. Accessible technology helps businesses keep great employees, recruit from a larger pool of candidates,

and enhance team collaboration and communication among all employees—including those with disabilities.