- From: Waddell, Cynthia <cynthia.waddell@ci.sj.ca.us>
- Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 11:02:28 -0700
- To: "'Scott Luebking'" <phoenixl@netcom.com>, charles@w3.org, jonathan@signbrowser.free-online.co.uk, mburks952@worldnet.att.net
- Cc: kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com, w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Scott, I highly recommend that you read my paper "The Growing Digital Divide in Access for People with Disabilities: Overcoming Barriers to Participation." It was commissioned for President Clinton's first national conference on the digital economy and provides a legal update on access to electronic and information technology. Please take a look at the discussion impacting universities and libraries. Ever since Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, universities that have computer labs have been required to provide specialized computers so that students with disabilities have equal access. It quickly became obvious that a second layer of accessibility was needed when the computers equipped for students with disabilities could not access the internet. The first ADA case was filed against a university for failing to provide screenreaders for the computer. We then saw that even if the computer stations were properly equipped, they could not access the internet if the web pages were not designed to be accessible. For a full discussion of the legal requirements for universities, please see my paper at http://www.aasa.dshs.wa.gov/access/waddell.htm. Cynthia D. Waddell --------------------------------------------------- Cynthia D. Waddell ADA Coordinator City Manager Department City of San Jose, CA USA 801 North First Street, Room 460 San Jose, CA 95110-1704 (408)277-4034 (408)971-0134 TTY (408)277-3885 FAX http://www.rit.edu/~easi/webcast/cynthia.htm http://www.aasa.dshs.wa.gov/access/waddell.htm -----Original Message----- From: Scott Luebking [mailto:phoenixl@netcom.com] Sent: Sunday, October 24, 1999 2:24 PM To: charles@w3.org; jonathan@signbrowser.free-online.co.uk; mburks952@worldnet.att.net; phoenixl@netcom.com Cc: kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Subject: Re: Web Accessibility Myths and The Kynn Challenge (was: Hi, Companies are in a bind because of software developers. Do they choose and support software because it best fits the IT needs of the company or do they choose less appropriate software because some disabled employees find it easier to use? A number of companies are choosing software because of IT needs and the use of that software becomes part of the job requirements. (This is why blind people are losing jobs.) Some universities are now requiring that all new students bring a certain type of computer to school in order that selection of software can be standardized across the campus. Because technology is changing and becoming an important part of education, will there be a point that use of certain computer technology will be as fundamental as using the main language of an institution? My impression is that universities are not required to build specialized computers for various disabled students. I wonder if universities could use a similar arguement that they should not be required to build specialized software for each disabled student. Scott > The reason to support more than one type of browser on an intranet include: > > Good practice. > > --- > > Special Needs within a corporation will require a different browser. > > Our college has a number of systems, not surprisingly. > > Apple's are used by some different thinking types apparently. > > Not all are networked, so some comms go via www. > > > > Jonathan Chetwynd > jay@peepo.com
Received on Tuesday, 26 October 1999 13:59:32 UTC