On Thu, 9 Nov 2006, David Goldstein wrote:

 > Hi Ian et al,
 > 
 > For someone who is blind, it's not a matter of avoiding the websites
 > that are unfriendly to screen readers. For example if a travel
 > website can't be read by a screen reader, it may well be one has to
 > call and suffer the added fees for booking over the phone. And then
 > there are the websites that use "capcha" (sp), where you have to
 > enter a scrambled code. Some organisations have an audio version, but
 > others are just inaccessible to someone who is blind or vision
 > impaired. 

True enough I'm sure, David.  And when it comes to gov and quasi-gov
sites I suspect there are regulations or at least guidelines to cater
for disabled user accesss.  However it's not something you can mandate
for most sites; providing some useful info on how web designers and
-mistresses could easily cater would be helpful, and most people would
rather be helpful than not, if it's not a huge burden to code in. 

The article you reference below says in part:

 > "It's very straightforward to make a site accessible," said Dayna
 > Bateman, senior information architect at Fry, which operates e-commerce
 > Web sites on behalf of large retailers including Brookstone, Eddie Bauer
 > and Spiegel.

So where is all this 'very straightforward' information to be found? 

Sure I could research it for myself through an evening googling, but it
seems to me that your mission (not you specifically, but any advocating
guidelines to make sites friendly or at least navigable for blind and/or
deaf users) could assist us by providing a howto or at least links to
non-proprietary web techniques and such .. maybe the AuDA website would
be a good place for this sort of information?

 > We don't deny access to a cafe or restaurant, for example, to someone
 > who is disabled, and so we shouldn't deny access to a website just
 > because someone has a disability. 

Sure, but taking Edwin's point, there's no special catering for specific
disabilities either, beyond certain modern requirements for wheelchair
access, disabled toilets and such, usually taken seriously by at least
community service organisations outside the gov sector, and savvy big
businesses.  OTOH, that's not something mum-n-dad firms can usually do.

I don't think you're really suggesting that video sites can be made
friendly for the blind, nor audio sites for the deaf, nor that these
should not exist at all because they're not useful for everybody?

Given some practical links to do/don't/howto techniques, I'm sure many
of us would readily apply these to sites/pages we're responsible for,
and that many businesses would love a 'disabled-friendly' sticker on
their websites .. carrots generally doing much better than sticks.

Cheers, Ian

"You can make it illegal, but you can't make it unpopular" -- anon


 > On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, David Goldstein wrote:
 > 
 > > Hi Lea,
 > > 
 > > I appreciate the issues you raise as accessibility for people with
 > > disabilities is ongoing. For people who are blind, there are
 > > neverending problems as most webdesigners don't even consider a
 > > thought for people who are blind. In the US there is currently a
 > > court case on accessibility for people who are blind - see
 > > http://iht.com/articles/2006/11/06/business/ecom.php

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