>different philosophies, and one that neither you nor Josh can really argue against. Classic power of the purse, from a large and >civic-minded customer. OK, was wondering exactly how they pressured Microsoft into making win95 accessible. -- Rich
----- Original Message ----- From: "Access Curmudgeon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 7:41 PM Subject: Re: New phone / accessibility issues > Rich, I want to clear up a couple potential misconceptions from your > last post on this thread. > > 1) Undue burden is, in fact, an accepted exception for not providing > accessibility or accommodation. Fortunately, this is a very high bar, > and it is not enough to claim undue burden, an agency must prove it. > > 2) There are regulations that require certain consumer-oriented > telecommunication products, like telephones and televisions, to be > accessible. These law require accessibility only when it is readily > achievable, and not even all models in every circumstance. > > 3) There is no law that generally requires consumer electronics to be > accessible. There are, of course, plenty of inaccessible MP3 players > for example. Even computers are not regulated this way. > > 4) The Federal government, and many state governents, have formal > policies of only purchasing accessible technology. They do not > require that an OS be accessible in order to be sold to the public, > but they do require that an OS be accessible for *them* to buy it. > > Did you read that story I cited early today? Here is the link again: > http://blogs.sun.com/korn/date/20051113#Massachusetts_Accessibility_Background > > The Massachusetts state government didn't legally require Microsoft to > make Windows 95 accessible. They said that they would not be buying > it themselves, until and unless it was accessible. Completely > different philosophies, and one that neither you nor Josh can really > argue against. Classic power of the purse, from a large and > civic-minded customer. > >
