The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Extramural Research (OER), makes every effort to ensure that the information available on this Web site is accessible to all individuals. In most cases, files are provided in an accessible HTML web format. When other file formats are used (such as PDF, RTF, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint or WordPerfect), postings are annotated with the corresponding file format and a link to Instructions For Downloading Documents and Electronic Forms is provided on the page.

If you use special adaptive equipment to access the Web and encounter problems when using our site, please let us know by writing to: OERWebmaster03@od.nih.gov. We will do whatever we can to assist you in obtaining the information you need or to provide the information in an alternate format, if possible. It would help us if you could be as specific as possible when describing the information you seek, including the URL (Web address), if applicable. NIH employees who need assistance with accessibility issues should contact the equal opportunity officer in their Institutes. To learn more about the regulations governing the accessibility of Federal electronic information products, please visit the Section 508 page.

On August 7, 1998, the President signed into law the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which includes the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. Section 508 requires that Federal electronic and information technology be accessible to Federal employees with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. It also requires that Federal agencies provide comparable access to information to both individuals with disabilities and individuals without disabilities. In an effort to follow these new Federal Guidelines, the OER web site has been redesigned to make it more accessible. The following accessibility features have been added:

• Almost all of the content in HTML files on this site may be viewed without graphics by using the "Hide Graphics" mode. Once "Hide Graphics" is chosen, all future pages are rendered without the navigation bar and graphics in the headers and footers. This option requires that your browser accept cookies (see our Privacy Notice for more information on this subject).



• Every effort has been made to make PDF files accessible using up-to-date Adobe Acrobat tools. In many cases, source files are provided in addition to the PDF file, to assure accessibility.



• A help file has been developed to provide Instructions For Downloading Documents and Electronic Forms as well as links to download free viewers for file formats used on the site.



• When file formats other than HTML are used (such as PDF, RTF, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint or WordPerfect), postings are annotated with the corresponding file format and a link to above help file is provided on the page.



• Complex tables on the site have been updated to include the appropriate "Table Header" tags to assist screen readers in reading the tables in the proper context.



• A variable font size has been used so customers can set their browser's viewable text size to whatever they wish.



• Style sheets were used in the site design so that pages degrade gracefully for text only browsers such as lynx.



• All site images include descriptive text tags.



• Several accessibility analyzer software tools are used on an ongoing basis to verify that the site pages meet accessibility standards.

Thank you for visiting the OER Grants Web site.