Web Accessibility for the Blind

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.

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