Bob Schwartz wrote:
First a disclaimer:
This post does not reflect my personal views on web accessibility or
handicapped persons, it is merely a collection of "academic" thoughts
triggered by various posts of the past few days.
How and why did the web get singled out from among all of the other
"publishing" mediums to be "by law" accessible?
Because it's a lot more feasible I guess.
Why aren't book, magazine, and newspaper publishers "required" to
produce an audio or braille version of everything they publish?
At the end of the day business is business. There are probably those
companies that provide versions for those that want it as and when. It's
not something that can be mass-produced and still be cost-effective.
Why aren't TV broadcasters and movie production companies "required"
to sub-title all of their broadcasts or films, or have an "off screen
reader" describing the scenes?
Because most people don't need them there. Anyway we have plenty of
options like recording the shows we want to watch with sign language or
extra voice-over or there's teletext subtitles (if that's still going).
The difference with regard to the web is that accessibility on the web
is for everyone whether they know it or not. a) they'll be able to find
your site more easily, b) it will be clearer and simple to use, c) it
will download more quickly... the list goes on. Its all about keeping
people happy and coming back to your site.
Isn't saying one can't (shouldn't) use, for example, a popup window on
a web site because screen readers have trouble with them, like telling
Hollywood they can't (shouldn't) use certain special effects because
the "off screen reader" would have trouble explaining them to a blind
person?
I think those examples are too different to compare like that. I hate
popups full-stop. Not having any is improving the friendliness of your
site to everyone, not just screen-reader users. I'm pretty sure there
are lots of movies out that have perfectly adequate spoken descriptions
of what is going on. Even on regular telly now (after midnight admittedly).
Every kind of media makes some provisions for accessibility, maybe not
perfect but it's better than nothing. Seeing as it's not to difficult to
achieve on the web making sites accessible is a no-brainer. Whether it's
the law or not there will always be some accessible sites and some not
as with any media. We can either do our bit or create information that
is less widely available than it could be.
regards,
Rob
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