WAI and Section 508 (Score 2, Interesting)

What's your opinion about the Section 508 laws in that they almost ignore the existence of the work developed by the W3C's WAI group?

Why have the USA created a different set of rules? We all have learned that having several standards is always worst than a single one. Developers don't want to worry about which standard to implement

Why haven't they done the same as other countries that simply adapted WAI standards?

From W3C's comment on Section 508:

In diverging from evolving consensus on Web accessibility, the provisions in the NPRM have the effect of fragmenting the industry standard rather than harmonizing with voluntary consensus industry standards as advised by a U.S. Government directive. Should the proposed provisions go into effect as is, Sec. 508 would not only fail to take advantage of supporting provisions for accessibility in Web-based authoring tools, browsers, accessibility checkers, and existing training materials; but also complicate implementation of accessibility features in these products, potentially increasing the cost of compliance.