- From: Marti <marti@agassa.com>
- Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 05:53:18 -0400
- To: "Lisa Seeman" <seeman@netvision.net.il>, "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>, "WAI" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Lisa, Thank you for providing a lot of useful information that has greatly enhanced my understanding of these conditions. I don't think anybody is saying we should not try to include guidelines that help people with LD, CD etc, rather we are stuggling with just how to do that. In particular how to do that without making things harder for other groups at the same time. It is unfortunate, but a fact, that what helps one group may make life more difficult for others. An example in the "real" world is curb cuts. Absolutely needed for wheelchairs, loved by mothers with baby strollers and somehting generally liked by everybody once they got accustomed to the idea but ... Did you know they are a problem for the blind? Did you know that a curb cut makes it hard for many blind people to find the curb edge so they can line up to cross streets properly? What seems to be happening here is we have needs that conflict with each other, what makes it more accessible to one group interfers with the access of another and the requirements may discourage people from even trying to make things more accessible. I venture to guess that not so many years ago, before the GUI, those with LD, CD etc did not use computers at all. Now, with the GUI everywhere, and multi-media growing by leaps and bounds things are so tantalizingly close it must be a major frustration. I believe we fall back on the TEXT answer because we know the most about it, it was here before the GUI. Alt text and things like it are, after all only meant to provide access in a manner that exsisted before the GUI. What we are reaching for now is really new ground, and the more understanding we have of the needs of these groups the better chance we will have of developing good answers. Marti
Received on Sunday, 13 May 2001 05:58:29 UTC