Hi all,
Just recently registered but am intrigued by this conversation.
I try to keep my sites as clean as possible, utiliising descriptions for
innocuous links and alt attributes for images. So generally, I don't go
'out of my way' to accommodate less abled site visitors (I used to
provide tab indexes and hot key shortcuts in all links but was
advised against this as most disabled users have their own shortcut
keys and overriding their presets was considered bad practice).
Is it really possible for a visitor to sue a site owner? For
non-institutional sites that are not necessities in any visitors life
I'd think a suit would be hard to make stick. No one instructs the
visitor to visit the site, therefore to effectively 'gatecrash' and then
demand certain features is a little off. If I hosted a party, of course
I would do my best to accommodate everyone's needs but to receive a
court summons several days later because i had not installed a
wheelchair ramp, for example, is surely wrong.
Please don't misinterpret my message - ideally I'd like clarification of
what should be included to ensure optimal user satisfaction of any site
I create. i just don't ever want to receive a lawsuit for overlooking a
particular function. Functionally speaking, not accommodating a
particular user group is like not ensuring your site works in a
particular browser - you'll lose a proportion of users and possibly
their representative sales.
To generalise slightly, the modern world has turned to lawsuits far to
readily - opportunities to let people know of errors and to allow them
to put them right has all but gone. I tink the majority of this is that
people aren't interested righting wrongs - they just see a path to a
quick buck.
Regards to all,
Jon Warner
Elizabeth Spiegel wrote:
Hi Tee
Like most things in the law, there's no clear-cut answer to that.
Like the DDA in the UK (as I understand it), it's up to an individual to
make a complaint that they have been discriminated by on the basis of their
disability. The HREOC guidelines tend to suggest that if you've built your
site to at least WCAG level A you should be fairly safe saying that you've
taken 'reasonable care'. Government websites are required to reach level A -
there's an interesting argument going on at the moment re the new
http://www.grocerychoice.com.au/ website:
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24141741-15319,00.html
William noted that "... for commercial organisations, if they are not
providing a service where they are the sole provider and access point, the
lines get fuzzy on what is and is not disciminatory." I'm not sure that
he's right in that: there haven't been any cases regarding websites, but
there has been at least one case regarding access to educational services
and the (private) school concerned wasn't sole provider.
Elizabeth Spiegel
Web editing
0409 986 158
GPO Box 729, Hobart TAS 7001
www.spiegelweb.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of tee
Sent: Monday, 18 August 2008 12:19 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [WSG] Lawsuits for inaccessible websites
Thanks for the info, Elizabeth.
Aussie members in this list must be very proud of this law :-) Let's
just hope no gold-digger lawyer sees an opportunity there!
Is the requirement for this law higher per WCAG guidelines (A, AA, or
AAA)? For example, Section 508 is really low standard in my opinion.
tee
On Aug 15, 2008, at 9:07 PM, Elizabeth Spiegel wrote:
Hi Tee
In Australia, websites are covered by Disability Discrimination
legislation,
although there has only been one successful suit to date. Bruce
Maguire was
awarded damages of $20,000 against SOCOG in 2000: full details here:
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/decisions/comdec/2000/DD000120.htm
Note that the target was not by any measure a 'small business'. HREOC
provides advisory notes
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/standards/www_3/www_3.html
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