I think most web sites that provide a subset of the information in sign language require basic reading capabilities. Work is in progress to standardize icons to make this information easier to find. What I know is that it isn’t uncommon to at least have basic reading skills if you are deaf. That may vary between countries (I guess it depends heaviliy on what the educational system is able to provide for you if you are deaf since birth).

I figured the accessibility checks were meant for the content authors, but didn’t want to assume.

http://www.signcommunity.org.uk/index.php immediately came to mind when I read checkpoint 4. The housing board site referenced requires the visitor to read and understand the text links to find the signed content, so I’m still a little confused as to its purpose - I thought it was to help those that can sign but struggle to read, have I misunderstood?

• …provide short movie clips with basic information interpreted into sign language on your web site. See The National Board of Housing for an example.
• …create pages with basic information in the most common minority languages. In Sweden these include English, Arabic, Farsi, Finnish and Bosnian. See sverige.se (the top menu).

Regarding accessibility checks it relates to content authors. A typical scenario is that you edit something in a WYSIWYG-like editor. If you forget to add an alt-text for an inserted image the tool should warn you.

Most of the requirements are based on recommendations in the W3C Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines.

I’m also a little puzzled by comment 7 too: CMS… should have integrated support for accessibility checks.

Do they mean for the developer or the content authors?

Thanks for providing a basic translation of the main points :)