RE: Americans with Disabilities Act

Stephen - the DDA does not refer to publishing. Part III applies to the
provision of goods, facilities, services and premises. 
 
Under section 19[1], a "service" is defined by way of a non-exhaustive list
of examples - included in which is "access to and use of information
services". This, together with more conventional service examples (such as
banks and shops etc) gives the basis for arguing that a service conducted
through a website is covered by the DDA.
 
I appreciate that this may seem like a pedantic lawyer point, but it is
important to note that things that are published (such as books, magazines,
newspapers etc) are not services and are not covered by the DDA and
(consequently) there is not legal obligation under the DDA for such products
to be accessible [Software is an awkward one, as the licensing of rights to
use software is commonly classed as a "service" and it is only when the
software is provided on hard media (ie a CD-ROM), that it becomes "goods".
As to how this would be interpreted by the DDA remains to be seen]. 
 
Now is probably as good time as any to tell members of the list that after a
number of months in the wilderness my website providing links to various
resources for web accessibility and the law in the UK has now moved to a new
home at http://www.web-accessibility.org.uk. I should be grateful if you
would update your bookmarks and links from any webpages you run. I'm
conscious that the site is turning into quite a long list (and is probably
not overly accessible), but will be working to improve on this in the coming
months. As ever, if you have any comments, please let me know.
 
It is also worth mentioning that an update to my original JILT paper on web
accessibility in the UK[2] features in a forthcoming textbook called "The
New Legal Framework for E-Commerce in Europe" (ISBN 1841134511)[3]. My
chapter builds quite a bit on my original work and gives greater
consideration to what the DDA means in practice. It also features a summary
of the international scene. The textbook is due to be published at the end
of the month and is available from all good bookshops!
 
Cheers
martin. 
-- 
Martin Sloan 
e: martin.sloan@orange.net 
w: www.web-accessibility.org.uk 

 
 
[1] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/Ukpga_19950050_en_4.htm#mdiv19
[2] http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/2001_2/sloan/
[3]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841134511/qid=1130279892/sr=8-4/re
f=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl/202-3021118-5917462

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On Behalf
Of Stephen Morgan
Sent: 21 October 2005 14:45
To: Sailesh Panchang
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: Americans with Disabilities Act


Hi Sailesh,
 
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate this but primarily the Disabilities
Discrimination Act over here (in the UK) has a section that refers to
Publishing and that now is deemed to be covering the Internet as well as
conventional Publishing. I understood that there was a similar approach in
the US with relating Sections of the ADA that concern the publishing of
material or broadcast of same etc.
 
This was more my line of enquiry.
 
Kindest regards
 
Stephen Morgan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sailesh Panchang <mailto:sailesh.panchang@deque.com>  
To: Stephen Morgan <mailto:sgsmorgan@idamus.com>  ; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org 
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: Americans with Disabilities Act

The ADA predates the Internet and the Web and there are no explicit
references  in it to the Web or online actibities.
Sailesh Panchang
Senior Accessibility Engineer
Deque Systems (www.deque.com)
11180 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite #400
Reston VA 21091
E-mail: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
Tel: 703-225-0380 (ext 105)
 
----- Original Message ----- 

From: Stephen  <mailto:sgsmorgan@idamus.com> Morgan 
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org 
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 6:48 AM
Subject: Americans with Disabilities Act

Hi,
 
I have been asked to provide a colleague with some information about the
specific areas of the ADA that relate to online Activities. I know where to
find the relevant info with regards to the DDA over here in the UK but I am
not as familiar with the ADA.
 
Anyone got any pointers?
 
Kindest regards
 
Steve Morgan