Re: Inclusion or accessibility

I do not disagree with the discussion at all but would like to add to it
that the crafters of wai products seem to me to be well aware of this
issue and are creating products that if marketed and used correctly
perhaps *inclusively* will benefit more than it seems.  The passages
below are taken from the introduction to the web content accessibility
guidelines version 1.0, and exemplify more than what we think of as the
*disabled*.  There is a danger as we have seen in the past to allow
these issues which are an umbrella in ad of themselves to be further
umbrellad hence even more likely to be neglected.  When I am combatted
with questions springing usually from an attitude of dismissal due to
lack of knowledge or over an incorrect premise, I provide the below info
which usually gains results.
--- begin quoted portion:
   For those unfamiliar with accessibility issues pertaining to Web page
   design, consider that many users may be operating in contexts very
   different from your own:
     * They may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to
       process some types of information easily or at all.
     * They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
     * They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.
     * They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow
       Internet connection.
     * They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which
       the document is written.
     * They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are
       busy or interfered with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud
       environment, etc.).
     * They may have an early version of a browser, a different browser
       entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.
    --- end quoted portion:

As you can see, there ar a lot of environmental issues addressed in this
tight little paragraph which appears at the top of the introduction and
in the user agent accessibility guidelines as well as others.  As has
been mentioned before, no matter what label you put on it, as soon as it
is understood what the label describes the label means the same thing as
the label before it.  The guidelines were labeled before they were
concieved I think and the label was changed at some point.  They go
though if they are read carefully, far beyond that label.

Received on Wednesday, 17 October 2001 08:55:43 UTC