- From: David Woolley <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>
- Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 23:01:06 +0000 (GMT)
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
I was at home having a new boiler installed and was listening to a phone-in on the use of the internet for personal finance. A blind person called in complaining that they were excluded from internet banking, etc., because of their blindness (I don't think they had seriously investigated access to the internet). The three experts all seemed to agree that the web was unsuitable for the blind (presumably because they associate the web with typical highly visual commercial designs). This was in the BBC Radio 4 (UK domestic) program Moneybox. A real audio version (unfortunately I'm using Linux without Real Audio) should be available for a few days at: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/business/moneybox/mblive.ram>. Textual information, including details of the "experts", is at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/moneybox/default.stm>. There is a "low graphics" version of this (replace "hi" by "low"), but it is missing many details. Note that this is a rolling home page, not an archival page. There should be a transcript of the program available on a stable URL on Wednesday or Thursday. (Internet savings accounts give particular high interest rates, even for small investments, in the UK, so access to them is financially beneficial.)
Received on Monday, 4 December 2000 18:02:20 UTC