- From: David Poehlman <poehlman@clark.net>
- Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 11:50:47 -0400 (EDT)
- To: Ann Navarro <ann@webgeek.com>
- cc: "Norman G. DeLisle, Jr." <ndelisle@email.msn.com>, WAI <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
...if I may...? can I get a response at two in the morning? equal access is the tagline here. universal access if you will. I too see what you are getting at, but all to often, it's used as a cop out. well, if you can't use pdf then... On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Ann Navarro wrote: ANAt 08:48 AM 8/19/98 -0400, Norman G. DeLisle, Jr. wrote: AN>The Americans with Disabilities Act and its regulatory apparatus makes AN>accessibility a right for persons with disabilities under certain AN>circumstances. In this case, the "amount" of accessibility that a given AN>site has to provide partly depends on whether the site is government or AN>privately sponsored. Also, a set of definitions for web accessibility and AN>other things similar was recently issued as part of the development of the AN>ADA. AN AN AN*Unless there's been some recent case law*, the pertinent ADA sections ANaddress public accomodation and providing accessible access for information ANand services *not available in another format*. That is, if I run a music ANschool and provide an online application, AND provide that application on ANpaper, or someone will read it to me over the phone or in person, etc, my ANapplication process is accessible. ADA does not state that my *web site* ANmethod of delivery must past an accessibility test, because I continue to ANoffer *alternative forms* of delivery of that information/service which ANprovide the same quality and end result. Yes, it would be a good thing for ANme to do, but I've met the accessiblity requirement by providing ANalternative delivery. Anytown, USA would run into trouble if they only ANprovided dog licensing on the web, and weren't accessible, because they ANhaven't made provisions for alternative delivery. AN ANA private home page, such as Kynn's personal page (I pick on Kynn because I ANknow him, and I don't have a personal site that's comparable), isn't a ANpublic accomodation. That he makes his site accessible is a good idea, but ANthe idea that he might be sued for not doing so, or is violating someone's AN"rights" by not doing so, strikes me as a bit silly (and again, this isn't ANflame bait, I'm a firm accessibility supporter, and wrote on the topic in ANthe book mentioned in my sig). AN ANAnn AN--- AN ANAuthor of Effective Web Design: Master the Essentials ANBuy it online! http://www.webgeek.com/about.html AN ANOwner, WebGeek Communications http://www.webgeek.com ANVice President-Finance, HTML Writers Guild http://www.hwg.org AN AN AN -- Hands-On-Technolog(eye)s touching the internet voice: 1-(301) 949-7599 poehlman@clark.net ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/poehlman http://www.clark.net/pub/poehlman Dynamic solutions Inc. Best of service for your Small Business network Needs Http://www.dnsolutions.com
Received on Wednesday, 19 August 1998 11:50:25 UTC