encyclo - 1:57 pm on Sep 8, 2006 (gmt 0)

If I'm hearing impaired can I sue radio stations?

There is simply no comparison between a purely auditory medium and the web. The text quoted by Webwork is a good summary of the complaint. It is important to understand that the web is overwhelmingly a text-based environment, and as such is inherently accessible because the data can be displayed on a screen, resized, displayed in different colors, read out by a screenreader or displayed on a braille device. Problems occur when you take that accessible information and present it in a way which reduces its accessibility.

The lawsuit didn't come about because the site was a bit difficult to use, but because the way it was built actively discriminated against blind users by failing to cater for "very basic components" - alternative text for images and - to quote - "the denial of keyboard access". This is active discrimination, not passive inaction.

The legislation doesn't mean that you have to switch to a 100% valid text-only table-free big text high contrast javascript-free site. Is it too much to ask a large company with a professionally-developed website to make a reasonable attempt to retain basic accessibility?

This is an important step, an excellent decision, and I hope the case goes forward and the case for website accessibility wins in the long term.

[edited by: encyclo at 4:18 pm (utc) on Sep. 8, 2006]