surfin2u - 1:26 pm on Sep 8, 2006 (gmt 0)

My take on this thread was initially along the same lines as most others, who posted before me. I wondered how on earth a blind person could access most websites.

Webwork's posting of the details of the plaintiff's complaint was very helpful to me and a real eye-opener on the issues of blind people using the Internet. It seems like what's being asked for by the plaintiff is that website developers take the time to be sure that a mouse is not required to use their websites.

Is that too much to ask? The comparison of making radio broadcasts accessible to the deaf is interesting. I don't think it's valid because radio is exclusively audio in nature, unlike television, which is both audio and visual. Accomodations for the deaf to watch TV are made in the form of captioning.

Does the government have the authority to dictate website design standards? That's a tough one... I personally favor software the can be operated by the keyboard alone, but I wonder if the fault in this case lies with Target or with the maker of the reader software?

If the outcome of this case is that it raises awareness on the part of developers to help handicapped users, then that's a good thing. If the outcome is a big effort by government to police the Internet then I will not be happy. I wonder how it was decided that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to Internet commerce sites.