Sean McManus sent a speedy reply to my email about both not being able to comment on his blog, and about inaccessible web sites. I also told him about Google Analytics, a great tool to provide feedback on visitors to your web site, but inaccessible to blind users. Here’s his response, printed with his permission.

Hi Janet

Thanks for your email. I’m sorry to hear about the problem with the comment validation. I’ve switched it off across the whole blog so that it does not become a barrier to people commenting in future.

I wonder whether you might be prepared to try to post your comment again please? I’d love to include your comments on the blog and respond to them publicly, and have them correctly attributed to you. If you don’t have time, I’ll post them myself and credit you and respond to them there.

Here’s my response:

I find it incredible that people are unwilling to make small changes to enable everyone to have equal access to technology, particularly when asked to do so by someone who is blind and who can explain the problem and demonstrate why it’s important. Google Analytics is a good example of the new wave of sites that use AJAX technologies to update the page without refreshing it. These sites cause massive accessibility problems for people with a range of different needs. People using screen magnifiers often can’t see what’s been updated because it’s outside the part they’re viewing. People using screenreaders have great difficulties because they’re using a linear interface to access content that could be changing anywhere along the line. The site is highly dependent

There is a misconception that making an accessible site means compromising on its design. But there’s no reason why Google Analytics couldn’t include a more accessible table output, or the option to download an accessible spreadsheet. Indeed, there is already an option to download a spreadsheet and text format report, only the link to do so uses javascript (inaccessible) and seems to be buried in lots of other links (inaccessible). There’s no reason why sites like Tadalist and Twitter can’t provide simple forms-based versions of their content either so that they can be used on all HTML-compliant devices. It’s just that designers don’t take it seriously enough. I’m particularly disappointed in Google (which also owns blogger) because they have enough smart people and resources to get it right, if only they considered it a priority.

Thanks again for your input, Janet.
Best regards
Sean

Note from Janet: Thanks to Publicityship I can access a small amount of the information provided by Google Analytics in the form of a table. Publicityship set up my web sites for me.

I stumbled across a much needed advocate for the development of accessible web sites to people with disabilities.
Sean McManus is a UK business and technology writer. He talks about how simple it is to make web sites easy to use for people who read using screen readers, or who need to use the keyboard instead of the mouse. He believes the reason there are so many sites that cannot be navigated by people with disabilities is due to the laziness of the designer.

I can relate to this totally, and I don’t know why I haven’t blogged about it before. One classic example for me is recent correspondence I’ve had with a professional writing organisation who “improved” their web site last year to make it completely useless to me. I pay membership fees to this group, and have explained to them how important it is for me to be able to use their site. I’ve sent them lots of information on how to make changes and therefore remove the obstacles to my access. But all I get in return is comments like: ‘We’ll do our best, but we can’t guarantee anything’, and ‘You can always send us an email with your question and we’ll do the research and get back to you’. Not good enough, but I’m getting nowhere. And the sad fact of the matter is that the Disability Discrimination Act can’t do anything to make them change their site for me.
And so I’m missing out on – I dont’ know what, because I can’t read the site!

I had a similar situation with another professional group who responded immediately to my request to put text labels on their graphics so that I could use their site. In one day, the site had been changed. It was fantastic.

It’s hard to understand why designers don’t see our dilemma. Why can’t people with disabilities have the same access to the world wide web as everyone else? It’s so simple, really. I wonder how they would feel if they were in our shoes.

On a funny note, I tried to post a comment on Sean’s blog. He uses blogger.com. They have one of those much-loved visual verification features where you have to read letters in a picture in order to post a comment. Yes, there was a “listen to the letters” link, but guess what? It doesn’t work! I’ve often found that on blogger.com blogs, and have given up trying to post my comment, because I’ve already wasted a lot of time. But I’ve emailed Sean to let him know. I’m sure he will be concerned enough to maybe do something. Here’s hoping.