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Comments: 4 +-   Do the blind deserve more effort on the Web?-> on Wednesday April 16 2008, @12:27PM dratcw

Submitted by dratcw on Wednesday April 16 2008, @12:27PM
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dratcw writes "An article posted today about the "maddening" frustrations faced by blind people struggling to use the Web and other computer systems shows how little progress has been made and the inadequacy of solutions such as Microsoft's Narrator screen reader. While the article generated many positive comments, one reader said the disabled should "get a grip" and maintained they "have no more right to demand that others provide for their needs than I, as a diabetic, have a right to demand that sugar no longer be used." Should Web sites and software makers do more, or does the reality of today's economics dictate that the blind/disabled will continue to struggle and learn to live with it?"
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Do the blind deserve more effort on the Web? 4 Comments More /

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  • Since internet access is not mana from heaven but provided by real people using their ressources, there's no such thing as a "right to access internet", it would mean that blind people somehow own the web developers. However, that doesn't mean the blind can't complain and ask to be considered.
    • It's worth noting that things like government documents and so forth must be made available to everyone and businesses have to obey the Americans With Disabilities Act. The practical implication of this is that a webpage needs to be standards compliant so it can work properly in whatever screenreader software a blind person uses; other documents need to be in non-proprietary formats (think PDF as opposed to Word) so it can easily be transferred to a readable format (if it isn't already), and so forth. I d
  • I try to create pages that are as device-independent as possible.

    This should not be a matter of regulation. It should simply be a matter of professional ethics among web designers.

    The diabetic's comment is somewhat fallacious. Nutrients are not like information. Food that contains no sugar is readily available. If a website is not accessible for the disabled, however, there are very rarely alternatives for finding the same information elsewhere.
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