- From: Cynthia Waddell <Cynthia.Waddell@psinetcs.com>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 11:36:33 -0800
- To: "David Poehlman" <poehlman1@home.com>, "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>, "SHARPE, Ian" <Ian.SHARPE@cambridge.sema.slb.com>
- Cc: "WAI \(E-mail\)" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
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