To be frank, I'm not too familiar with the American example, except that I have been to several international telecommunications conferences dealing with accessibility. Bar none, the fellow from Microsoft, the last national director for Microsoft, was saying that the most important thing in the United States has been section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, in terms of the requirement that the American government only procures, uses, and purchases equipment—and it's not only in telecommunications, because it's broader than telecom—that meets a very high level of standards. The Access Board is the group that's setting up the standards, and they're currently revising those standards. The current standards are book-thick.
On March 21st, 2007. See this statement in context.