Re: Comprehensive WCAG conformance leads to accessibility for all irrespective of the technology used-any statement to prove this legally?

Amar,

I presume you are aware of the Maguire vs SOCOG case, from 2000. There,  
approximately, the ruling held that SOCOG (and their contractor) should  
have been aware of WCAG and should have implemented its requirements which  
were nt unduly burdensome, which would have ensured that the individual  
complaints that resulted from the initial complaint would in fact have  
been unnecessary. (As a result of the failure to respect the complainants  
rights by doing the work reasonably required in the first place, a damages  
award of AUD $20 000 was made, IIRC)

The Commissioner's 'Reasons for the Decision' (i.e. a formal summary of  
the outcome) are available from the Independent Living Institute's  
website:  
https://www.independentliving.org/docs5/sydney-olympics-blind-accessibility-decision.html

Regulation in many countries takes e.g. WCAG, or some technical standard  
derived from it, as a proxy for a "universal design" approach that has  
specific criteria to simplify determination of whether an a priori good  
faith effort as been made.

There have been other legal cases decided in court, but I haven't followed  
them closely. (Of coourse, the majority of these cases are settled out of  
court precisely to avoid setting precedent for cases like yours :( And  
naturally, because companies prepared to spend thousands on legal fees to  
argue they don't have to help anyone occasionally suddenly want to quickly  
and effectively resolve the problems of complainants who insist on their  
rights).

cheers

Chaals

On Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:38:28 +0200, Amar Jain <amarjain@amarjain.com>  
wrote:

> Is there any document which backs-up this statement and is there any  
> precedent where comprehensive audit has been asked by way of >a court  
> order?



-- 
Charles "chaals" Nevile
ConsenSys Lead Standards Architect

Received on Thursday, 15 September 2022 13:22:29 UTC