- From: Anne Pemberton <apembert@crosslink.net>
- Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 08:22:11 -0400
- To: <wcrotts@arches.uga.edu>, "'Web Accessibility Initiative'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Wayne, Thanks for your comments. I am discovering the difficulties with using existing photos or illustrations around copyright laws, and realize that the web author has to "own" pictures that are used. It is an accessibility issue when you look past the needs of "normal" children, who will someday be able to access text without illustrations. Consider the adults with cognitive disabilities who are dependent on illustrations to understand text (and those who cannot process text at all and need illustrations *instead of* text), and this becomes an accessibility issue. Web designers need to be made aware that including illustrations is as basic to an informational website as properly marked up text. It may not be "easy" to find needed illustrations that can be used, but it is essential to make the web accessible to those who need them. The idea that the web can be made "more accessible" by decreasing the use of graphics or multimedia needs to be replaced by the reality that graphics and multimedia are essential to make the web accessible to all persons with disabilities. Anne At 10:04 PM 10/16/1999 -0400, Wayne Crotts wrote: > >> I am getting frustrated trying to find web content an 8 yo >> can use without >> someone reading it to him, and dismayed by the lack of illustrations with > > >Pardon me for saying this, but it sounds like you are frustrated by >copyright law. Most enthusiasts or others cannot put illustrations and >photographs on their web site without getting 'cease and desist' letters >from publishers who hold rights to those illustrations and photographs. > >In general, U.S. copyright law is particular as to the use of copyright >material. Even converting copyright material to be alternatively >accessible like converting it to Braille or to audio-tape is prohibited (at >least as interpreted by our university's legal affairs team). > >I say all this to suggest that this is not so much an accessibility issue as >a content and editorial issue. > Anne L. Pemberton http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1 http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling apembert@crosslink.net Enabling Support Foundation http://www.enabling.org
Received on Sunday, 17 October 1999 09:57:59 UTC