Re: Accessibility and safety-critical software

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:59:57 +1000, Myhill, Carl S (GE Energy)  
<carl.myhill@ps.ge.com> wrote:

> Firstly, please forgive my ignorance on this topic, which I'm not even  
> sure how to ask about.
>
> Personally, I think accessibility should be a primary consideration in
> software design, particularly on the web. So, legislation moving us in  
> that direction has my vote. I work hard to make my own website  
> accessible (though it's not actually that hard, just a bit of learning  
> needed).

Note that you and I vote in different countries. (Actually as an  
Australian taking up overseas residence I am about to lose my right to  
vote, but it's still true). More to the point, questions on legislation  
are often pretty parochial.

> However, is there a category of software which has some kind of exemption
> from accessibility legislation? For example, I would asssume that an air
> traffic control system would not need to be made accessible. Is that
> correct? Can anyone point me to regulations on such things? Or provide  
> any other kind of insight?

Sure. There is a whole raft of legislation on the topic in Morocco. How's  
your Arabic? :-)

Seriously, even in english speaking countries there are a raft of  
different exemptions. WHile Section 508 generally exempts Intelligence  
gathering (read "the CIA, NoSuchAgency, FBI, etc), the Australian  
Disability Discrimination Act provides higher barriers for them than for  
the local high school to prove that it is not reasonable to insist on  
accessibility in some area or other. Consult your local legal advisory  
board...

cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathieNevile                      Fundacion Sidar
charles@sidar.org   +61 409 134 136    http://www.sidar.org

Received on Saturday, 16 April 2005 12:19:52 UTC