For years now regulated parties (which means much of the country) have been waiting urgently for an answer to the question of whether and to what extent the Americans with Disabilities Act requires websites to be made accessible to blind, deaf, and other disabled users. (Coverage of this issue here dates back two decades.) Now the Supreme Court will be asked to review a much-watched case against Domino’s Pizza (earlier) which resulted in a plaintiff’s win before the Ninth Circuit. Four other appeals court rulings have addressed the issue. Will this be the case that finally reaches the high court?
[Frank Cruz-Alvarez and Talia Zucker, Washington Legal Foundation Kristina Launey and Minh Vu/Seyfarth Shaw, January and March posts; J. Gregory Grisham, Federalist Society; Nicole Porter where SCOTUS may be headed on disability issues]
2 Comments
To say that the internet should be accessible to the disabled is nonsense. What is meant by that? Is a website supposed to compensate for color-blindness? How about total blindness? How would a blind person even navigate a website? How about someone with cerebral palsy who can’t control his hands? How could websites possibly help him with his disability?
I have seen braille on a drive-up bank teller machine–where pedestrians should not be, esp if blind.
Do we demand that every book come out with every-other page in braille? no. charities and publishers offer books on tape. problem solved. Is every book on tape? No of course not.
Should we force musicians to offer translations of their music for the deaf? There is no such thing. Subtitles on movies don’t even try.
Every question in the comment above has an answer. I suggest the poster make an effort to meet with a disabled person and see what accessing the internet means to them. I’m a legally blind person, so I’ll ust say that the website should have text that I can navigate, magnifay, and use text-to-speech software with if necessary. The colors should be of sufficient contrast so that I can actually read the site.