RE: Legal requirements RE: statistics

The ADA Complaint filed against AOL included web issues in its complaint.

For a legal discussion of the case, please see my article, "The National
Federation of the Blind Sues AOL", published in the American Bar Association
magazine "Human Rights" in Volume 27, Issue #1, Winter 2000 at
http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/winter00humanrights/waddell2.html.  The same
magazine also carried my legal article "Electronic Curbcuts: The ADA in
Cyberspace" at
http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/winter00humanrights/waddell.html.

Lastly, there is also the article, "Will the National Federal of the Blind
Renew their ADA Web Complaint against AOL?" which was published in the
National Disability Law Reporter, Volume 18, Issue 5, 24 August 2000, page
9, at http://www.icdri.org/aol_nfb.htm.

Other legal articles I have written on the AOL case are not currently
available through the Internet.  However, the International Center for
Disability Resources on the Internet has graciously offered space to post a
number of my legal papers and articles about technology and the web at
http://www.icdri.org/cynthia_waddell.htm.

Best regards,
Cynthia Waddell

---------------------------------------
Cynthia D. Waddell, JD
Ciber
Principal Consultant
Subject Matter Expert
Accessibility Center of Excellence
(800)547-5602 or Fax (800)228-8204

ACE Offices are located at San Jose, CA, Sacramento, CA and Raleigh, NC USA

San Jose Office:
PO BOX 5456
San Jose, California USA 95150-5456
http://www.icdri.org/cynthia_waddell.htm


-----Original Message-----
From: David Poehlman [mailto:poehlman1@home.com]
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 9:36 AM
To: Charles McCathieNevile; SHARPE, Ian
Cc: WAI (E-mail)
Subject: Re: Legal requirements RE: statistics


the aol issue was not a web issue but a software issue.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>
To: "SHARPE, Ian" <Ian.SHARPE@cambridge.sema.slb.com>
Cc: "WAI (E-mail)" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 12:13 PM
Subject: Legal requirements RE: statistics


Ian,

Actually I believe that the Americans with Disabilities act would also
apply
to the Web (it was the law under which an American blindness
organisation
sued AOL over accessibility of their service), and to more organisations
thatn are covered by section 508.

Definitely the equivalent Australian legislation applies, as shown by
the
case of Maguire v SOCOG - the "Sydney Olympics case". There are other
countries with similar legislation - the UK and Portugal are two that I
know
of.

I think the big issue is, as you say, awareness - not just of the fact
that
it has to be done, but also how it can be done.

The Education and Outreach group of WAI - http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO works
on
promoting this information, and they have a page on policies that are
known
to cover Web accessibility in various countries.

(I am not a lawyer - if you want real legal facts you need a skilled
lawyer
with experience of the particular area, or a very skilled one who can
learn
it)

cheers

Charles McCN

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, SHARPE, Ian wrote:

  Simon, couldn't agree more with your sentiment but sadly am not so
confident
  that legislation will ensure sites are made accessible. As far as I'm
aware
  only 508 in the US ensure sites/software purchased by US government be
  accessible. (That's my understanding anyway, maybe I'm wrong?) Even
this
  limited legislation isn't even true in the UK. It should be!! And the
rest!!

  The other big problem we have is simply awareness of accissiblity
issues.

Received on Friday, 11 January 2002 14:34:31 UTC