Re: Against zero-sum games

amen, brother!

that's precisely one of the point i've been attempting to articulate for the
past god-knows-how long -- false dichotomies are the most effective form of
divide-and-conquer...  accessibility isn't an either-or proposition, nor
should it ever be presented as such, which is why any attempt to make WCAG a
blueprint for "specialized" design runs counter to the very concept of
accessibility...  the entire point of WCAG is to provide solutions -- we
simply need to step back, take a deep breath, and expend our energies on
providing interoperable solutions -- a term which we must understand as
pertaining not only to technology, but modalities and functionalities as
well -- rather than in perpetuating threads in which we reargue the same
issues we've been arguing for the past 4 years...

which is why it is incumbent upon us, as a working group, to ensure that
WCAG 2.0 is the synthesis of:

technical expertise -- how does one break down barriers to comprehension and
functionality in one modality without erecting barriers to comprehension and
functionality in another?

practical knowledge -- what is optimal, what is necessary, what is required
by spec, what is interoperable, what is actually supported by the
technology, how users use the technology, why, and how, and if, they can be
convinced to change

common sense -- or, rather, what i'd prefer to call "common sense", but
which practical experience has taught me is more accurately called "uncommon
sense", of which, intelligent curb-cut design is an excellent example

real-life experience -- a large chunk of which consists of listening closely
to what actual users have to say about what works and what doesn't, which
also implies testing contested/competing solutions

gregory.
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RATIONAL, adj.  Devoid of all delusions save those of observation,
experience and reflection.
	--                Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_
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Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
          Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html
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Received on Sunday, 13 May 2001 17:33:48 UTC