- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com>
- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:07:33 -0800
- To: Chris Maden <crism@oreilly.com>
- Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
At 06:02 p.m. 11/16/98 -0500, Chris Maden wrote: >In some situations, it is possible that the government is the best >agent to effect change, but it does not follow that where there is >suffering, there needs to be government. (In fact, there is often >already government there...) Okay, then who will correct the fact that the web is being designed to exclude an entire class of people? Or is that simply an "okay thing"? >I have yet to see a compelling argument >that application of the ADA to the Web will actually produce >anything. Large companies and municipal sites may be forced to change >their ways, ...wouldn't that be something, though? >but smaller sites, no less interesting (in fact, maybe >more interesting) to the disabled, will likely ignore the legislation >unless actually sued. ...and wouldn't that be something, too? >I maintain that our effort will be more >productive if spent on education rather than legislation. Well, I do that already. However, that doesn't mean that legislation designed to protect the interests of minorities (of any kind) is worthless. >The >legislation is also only effective within a single country; spreading >it necessitates a repeat effort in every target country, while >education does not stop at national boundaries. The ADA will be as >effective on the Web as the CDA. If the ADA is effective at bringing accessibility to just American websites, I will be pleased. Won't you? I don't see legislation as the primary tool (and rarely give it more than a passing mention in the material I create/use), but I don't think we can dismiss it out of hand. -- Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com> http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/ Chief Technologist & Co-Owner, Idyll Mountain Internet; Fullerton, California Enroll now for my online stylesheets (CSS) class! http://www.hwg.org/classes/ The voice of the future? http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/w3c/voicebrowsers.html
Received on Monday, 16 November 1998 18:11:27 UTC