RE: WaitingForBob -- Selfish Reason for Accessibility

Well put, Paul Davis.

Bathroom stories are always interesting, in that they remind us of the human
factor issue.  I remember starting work as an ADA compliance officer for a
university and finding that the Human Resource office had used the only
accessible bathroom to store their water bottles for the water cooler.

There was a perception that no one really needed to use the restroom.  Yet,
it was the only accessible restroom in the building for both employees and
members of the public.  Employment applications were completed by applicants
in this building and testing was provided for placement in the job
application pool.  By not having an accessible bathroom, people with
disabilities were effectively barred from applying to work on the campus as
well as from working as employees in this building.

Accessible web design is a necessity and removes barriers that I am sure
many do not intend.  Like the bathroom example, everyone wanted water for
the water cooler but failed to understand the impact of their action.  Let's
not make the same mistake.

Best regards,
Cynthia Waddell

---------------------------------------------------
Cynthia D. Waddell   
ADA Coordinator
City Manager Department
City of San Jose, CA USA
801 North First Street, Room 460
San Jose, CA  95110-1704
(408)277-4034
(408)971-0134 TTY
(408)277-3885 FAX
http://www.icdri.org/cynthia_waddell.htm



-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Davis [mailto:paul@ten-20.com]
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 2:33 PM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: WaitingForBob -- Selfish Reason for Accessibility 


Well put Michael Burks,

If you are lucky enough to find a restroom large enough for disabled 
people, the odds are it is being used as extra storage space.

I make this point, as it seems to me having followed this group for more 
than 6 months now, there are a few people that make valid points but too 
many times they get lost in the techno babble. To coin a well worn phrase 
"when up to your butt in alligators, it is difficult to remember the 
original objective was to clear the swamp"

I would respectfully ask when did the list members last read the mission 
statement?

Perhaps a better way is not to treat the symptoms, but attempt to cure the 
disease. To force an issue in law is to antagonize, however to educate is 
to enlighten. The people that should be targeted for building accessible 
sites are the young and next generation of web builders. Not the ' I love 
rotating gifs, Java and big images built in frames' brigade.

Has anyone asked the question what is the average life span of a web page? 
To force a company to change a site by law is expensive for everyone and 
will be resisted. The extra costs will be added to the products or 
services. But to educate and have new or updated pages accessible as they 
go up, I believe is the way forward.



err........is that me off the list now?


Paul Davis

Received on Friday, 9 June 2000 20:21:57 UTC