Disability Experts to Webcast National Town Meeting on Rescuing Section 508 at AT508.com

Noted Panelists to Convene Disability Community On-line to Issue “Federal Agency Report Card on Section 508 Compliance” as Concern over Government Implementation Grows
Friday, June 20, 2:00 PM ET at www.AT508.com

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Chantilly, Va. Internet TV Channel and leading assistive technology portal AT508.com, an affiliate on the TVWorldwide.com network, announced it will offer a free live video webcast of the National Town Meeting to Rescue Section 508, to be held June 20, 2003 2:00 PM ET, on-line at www.AT508.com. The event will highlight Section 508 of the National Rehabilitation Act on its 2nd anniversary and feature prominent expert panelists from the community of those people with disabilities who will issue a “Federal Agency Report Card on Section 508 Compliance”. The panel will be led by world-renowned disability columnist John Williams of AT508.com and Mike Paciello, President of The Paciello Group (TPG), a leading international authority on Internet and software accessibility. Other panelists from industry and government will be announced shortly. The meeting will be webcast with open captioning of the streaming video, or “webcaptingsm”, developed by TVWorldwide.com to assist federal agency clients in complying with Section 508.

“Our goal is to generate mainstream awareness of the inherent weaknesses in the federal government’s implementation of the important Section 508 legislation,” stated Mr. Paciello. “A key flaw in the effective enforcement of Section 508 involves a consistent and reliable set of usability, quality assurance, and certification measures that ensure E&IT product accessibility. Consequently, federal agencies aren't truly complying -- and vendors are given mixed messages about what is or isn't accessible. This town meeting will result in a viable plan of action, with real proposals for re-structuring conflicts of interest in Section 508 enforcement and federal agency oversight as we unite our community to rectify this problem.“

”The current administration has not made the enforcement of section 508 a priority, despite the fact that they’ve claimed credit for doing exactly that,“ remarked Mr. Williams. “There over 56 million Americans with disabilities and its time that the federal government enforcement of disability legislation is granted the same dedication of resources as other ongoing federal efforts such as the war on drugs.”

“Individuals with disabilities are a very close-knit community and we’ve found through the rapid growth of AT508.com, that the web is a strong enabling factor for this demographic,” commented Dave Gardy, CEO of TVWorldwide. “I am very proud of our accessible video streaming applications being utilized to engage the community of those people with disabilities and pleased to be working with AT508.com to make this interactive webcast event a reality for the thousands we expect nationally."

Visitors to the live webcast town meeting will be able to post questions to panelists and participate in Q&A via e-mail, providing a fully interactive forum for sharing of information.

The event will be webcast live and archived for viewing at www.tvworldwide.com and www.AT508.com. Participants should have the free Real Video Player installed prior to the event and should log on by 1:45 PM ET on Friday, June 20.

About AT508.com
TVWorldwide’s AT508.com Internet TV channel was launched in October at the World Congress on Disabilities in Orlando, Fla, featuring world-renowned disability columnist John Williams covering the latest in assistive technology and Section 508 news and since then has webcast the TASH, ATIA, CSUN and CEC events for the community of people with disabilities. AT508.com features articles and videos on the latest in assistive technology products, services and issues and during trade show events, highlights keynotes, presentations and interviews with exhibitors and speakers. AT508.com events are webcast live and archived in fully accessible format using the captioned video streaming of TVWorldwide.com’s “webcaptingsm” process. AT508.com sponsors include The Paciello Group, Keybowl, HP, Kurzweil Educatonal Systems, Corda, Deque, Audio Eye, Sighted Electronics Freedom Vision and Vcom3D.
About The Paciello Group (TPG)

Founded by Mike Paciello, TPG is an international leader in Accessibility Consulting and Engineering. TPG is dedicated to helping corporations, government agencies and educational institutions make their IT
resources accessible to all people, including those with disabilities. They offer professional consulting, technology solutions and monthly monitoring services to ensure that clients reach and maintain the ongoing accessibility of their digital assets. Further information on The Paciello Group can be found online at www.paciellogroup.com.

About TV Worldwide
As a leading global Internet broadcasting and streaming media company, TV Worldwide (www.tvworldwide.com) is developing a network of video channels that is an affiliation of community-based Internet television stations, each underwritten by a strategic partner, "aimcastingsm" to targeted demographic audiences worldwide. TVWorldwide.com works with strategic partners to develop the latest in live and archived state-of-the art video streaming content applications. . TVWorldwide.com was recently named one of the streaming video industry’s “Hottest Streaming Companies” by Streaming Magazine, www.streamingmagazine.com, and CEO Dave Gardy was honored by the magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Streaming Media.

Contact: Dave Gardy
TV Worldwide.com
dgardy@tvworldwide.com
www.tvworldwide.com
(703) 961-9250 ext. 221

John Williams
AT508.com
JMMAW@aol.com
www.at508.com
(703) 404-9557