- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com>
- Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 07:21:10 -0700
- To: Julia Collins <julia@we3.co.uk>
- Cc: Nick Kew <nick@webthing.com>, Kevin A Sesock <sesock@okstate.edu>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
On Thursday, June 12, 2003, at 01:38 AM, Julia Collins wrote: > Might there be legal issues for the future (UK) and currently (US) if > OSX > and therefore all new macs are inaccessible to people with low or no > vision? > > Just a thought. Oh, definitely, yes. Mac OS X has never been accessible to people who can't see -- due entirely to the lack of any working screenreaders. Note, by the way, that Mac OS X pretty much passes Section 508, which requires a lot from operating systems but does NOT require the _actual existence of a screenreader on the platform_. Thus, the federal government really could buy Mac OS X if they wanted, even if no blind people are able to use it effectively. This is a flaw in Section 508 -- it was clearly written from an Windows operating system perspective, which assumes there will be multiple screenreader packages available from third parties, or at least ONE available. 508 only requires interoperability with assistive technology, and Mac OS X does indeed provide an accessibility API. Nowhere does 508 require that blind people actually be able to use an operating system. --Kynn -- Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com> http://kynn.com Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain http://idyllmtn.com Author, CSS in 24 Hours http://cssin24hours.com Inland Anti-Empire Blog http://blog.kynn.com/iae Shock & Awe Blog http://blog.kynn.com/shock
Received on Thursday, 12 June 2003 10:16:05 UTC