WAI: BC-Social Factors Comments

Comments are from Top of Document to Bottom

1. Web Accessibility is a Social Issue
Web Accessibility is Essential for Equal Opportunity

Therefore, an accessible Web is a requirement for equal opportunities 
in may areas.

CHG: "requiremet" to "essential" to reflect the change in the title


2.  The Web is an opportunity for unprecedented access to information 
for people with disabilities.

Once that same information is available and accessible on the Web, it 
becomes exponentially users for many people with disabilities to use.

Incomplete sentence.

CHG: What becomes expontially here "important'?

3. same paragraph
Additionally, providing Web information that is accessible to people 
with all different types of disabilities is much easier and less 
expensive then developing and distributing multiple alternative 
formats

CHG: "then" should be "than", I think.  Then is time based, isn't it?

4. People with disabilities can actively participate and provide 
content for the Web.

When Web development software ("authoring tool") is accessible, 
people with disabilities can more easily develop Web sites.

CHG: Can we expand this just a little.

i.e. can we highlight expanding employment opportunities for 
under-served groups? Or highlight  enhancing the field allowing 
qualified people to compete for jobs. Possibly mentioning that not 
all disabilities occur at birth.  Often, disability occurs 
mid-career.  Rather than retiring a qualified employee, accessible 
tools would allow a qualified employee to continue to compete in the 
work place.

5. Under "Barriers to Use"

That is, some people do not have the financial means to afford 
[decent], regular [reliable] access to the Web, or the social 
environment that encourages Web use.

CHG:  "decent" - please explain relationship to "afford".  Can we use 
reliable instead of regular.

6. Scope

[In addition, since the benefits of accessible design also extend to 
other groups affected by the digital divide and other limiting 
situations, Web accessibility also supports improved access and 
social inclusion for many other groups, including:]

CHG:  "the digital divide" to "these" to avoid unnecessary overuse of 
the phrase (counter proposal to Blossom's #3 - can over use barriers, 
too)
[In addition, since the benefits of accessible design also extend to 
other groups affected by these and other limiting situations, Web 
accessibility also supports improved access and social inclusion for 
many other groups, including:]

7. "Scope" list of other groups, and "Web Accessibility Benefits Other Groups"

The last section of this page, "[@@Web Accessibility Benefits Other 
Groups]" provides examples of how Web accessibility benefits these 
other groups.

Suggestion: Should have some continuity in groups between the two sections.
The list in the "Scope" section breaks out what is combined in the 
headers of the other section. If it is combined in one section, it 
probably should be combined in the other.

8. ALSO Note: Andrew mentioned last week that we were missing some 
people in the "Scope" section.  I don't recall but I think he listed 
about 3 different people/groups.


9. Web Accessibility Benefits More Than People with Disabilities

While the main focus of Web accessibilty is people with disabilities, 
accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, including 
those in groups disadvantaged by the digital divide.

Alternate wording:

While the main focus of Web accessibilty is people with disabilities, 
accessibility also benefits people without disabilities whether or 
not they disadvantaged by the digital divide.

Smoother, more connected to document flow. This also takes care of my 
issue with the placement of "digital divide" at this location. It was 
sort of dangling out in space because there was no text in the 
section about the digital divide. (See #8 Andrews comments.) The new 
text bridges previous paragraphs with this section a little better.

10. Access for Older People

For example, many people with age-related visual deterioration 
benefit from being able to use a site they are used to using and 
progressively increasing the text size (as opposed to using a very 
differently designed text-only site or a screen reader).

CHG: For example, many people with age-related visual deterioration 
benefit from being able to use a site they have been using and 
progressively increasing the text size (as opposed to using a very 
differently designed text-only site or a screen reader).


11. Access for People with Low Literacy and Speakers of Other Languages

Accessible Web sites can benefit people with low literacy levels and 
people who are not fluent in the language of the Web page. 
Specifically, many of the aspects of Web accessibility for people 
with cognitive disabilities help people with low literacy or language 
understanding, including clear and simple language, consistent design 
and navigation, and supplemental illustrations. Also accessible sites 
can be read by screen readers (for people who are blind) and people 
who cannot read can also benefit from listening to sites.


CHG:
Accessible Web sites can benefit people with low literacy levels and 
people who are not fluent in the language of the Web page. 
Specifically, aspects of Web accessibility such as clear and simple 
language, consistent design and navigation, and supplemental 
illustrations used for people with cognitive disabilities also help 
people with low literacy or language understanding. In addition, 
screen readers can read accessible sites for people who are blind and 
people who cannot read can also benefit from listening to sites.

12. Access for People with Low Bandwidth Connections to the Internet 
and Older Technologies

CHG: copy editŠŠ
	Proper use of parens??? (for example, mobile phone or 
personal data assistant (PDA))
Remove double period at the end of the first paragraph.

13. NOTES and possible references:   misc

The European Commission, in their Green Paper "Promoting a European 
Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility " (July 2001), define 
it as a "concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental 
concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with 
their stakeholders on a voluntary basis."

Comment: I like this quote and think that it is worth including.

The others have stats but I don't like the one that is a link to 
buying the report. The advertisement to buy the report is what 
bothers me not the quote.

-- 


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Received on Friday, 30 January 2004 01:42:33 UTC