On Feb 10, 2006, at 8:24 AM, Rob Mientjes wrote:
On 09/02/06, Conyers, Dwayne, Mr [C] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:> While I believe accessibility is an important design issue,
is there legal> precedent for suing someone for poor design? It
seems a bit like suing> Mickey Dees for spilling hot coffee in the
lap...
Yes, but spilling hot coffee in the lap isn't at all relevant to
goodor poor design, nor to accessibility. Not a great comparison,
sorry ;)
And yes, I'd also assume there are precedents of people in
wheelchairs suing a company over poor design.
In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has an enforcement
responsibility, though not specifically for the Internet, since it
was established prior to the growth of the Web.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/enforce.htm
What is new(ish) is extending the accessibility argument to private
companies, since Section 508 applies only to the US government (and
is not taken very seriously, IMHO).
See Derek Featherstone's post on the WaSP site: http, Taking Aim at
Target(.com): http://www.webstandards.org/
I see the Web as tremendously liberating for the disabled, and
partially-abled or differently-abled, as well as the rapidly growing
senior population. Being able to shop online may save an entire day's
worth of effort for some. Being able to type instead of sign may
facilitate a huge amount of conversation between hearing and non-
hearing. Etc. We may not think of it that way if that's not our own
experience, but maybe we should try to imagine life without sight or
hearing, etc.
Best regards,
Marilyn Langfeld
Langfeldesigns
http://www.langfeldesigns.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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