Blog Questions for Week 9
How could you advise a visually disabled friend to complain about a website they couldn't access?
There seems to be widespread speculation about the legislation introduced under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which ensures that websites are accessible to blind and disabled users. As you know the chances are you'll come up empty handed. So therefore, If I had a friend that was in this position I would tell the friend to take strong legal action as it appears that certain websites are singling out certain individuals (discrimination), so therefore the strongest possible action that could be taken in order to give this person a voice and teach the company a lesson is to take the company to court and sue them for going against the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA),
(For this particular case)
5.23 (p71): “For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites.”
LEGAL CASE
Location: Califonia
Bruce Sexton
California law may require websites to be accessible to disabled internet users, according to a ruling in a case against retail giant Target. Despite recent improvements to the accessibility of Target.com, the case has now been certified as a class action.
Target was sued by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and one of its blind members, Bruce Sexton, under a federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and also under two state laws, the California Disabled Persons Act and the California Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The NFB and Sexton argue that Target.com is not accessible to blind internet users, in breach of these federal and state laws. They complained that images on the site were missing alternative text upon which blind users rely; keyboard controls do not work, meaning users must be able to work a mouse; and headings are missing that are needed for navigation.
The NFB and Sexton argue that Target.com is not accessible to blind internet users, in breach of these federal and state laws. They complained that images on the site were missing alternative text upon which blind users rely; keyboard controls do not work, meaning users must be able to work a mouse; and headings are missing that are needed for navigation.
Since the case began, Target has made improvements to the site's accessibility. accessibility had improved, making it "more likely that a blind user could complete a transaction,"
SOLUTIONS
3 solutions which can improve accessibility are as followed:
(screen reader) if user is blind they can get the CPU to read out text for them this may as include images as well.
(text size function) (increase) this can be used people with impaired vision the process can be carried out as follows:
- top of browser click VIEW
- select TEXT SIZE from drop down menu
- select the size you are comfortable
- proceed with the reading
(special keyboard) which is in brail for the blind, allows them to eaisly navigate around the net.
