A little over a year ago we told you that Target was being sued for failing to make their website accessible to the blind.
Now the judge in the case has certified the case to be a class action, meaning that blind people and advocates for the blind around the country can pile on.
And yet, the questions still remain: Should organizations have an obligation to make their websites accessible to the blind? Should websites fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? And just what exactly does it mean for a website to be accessible to the blind?
Last year, when in the face of a summary judgement motion from Target the judge let the case move forward, Marc Maurer, president for the National Federation for the Blind, claimed “This ruling is a great victory for blind people throughout the country. We are pleased that the court recognized that the blind are entitled to equal access to retail Web sites.”
Now, with the class action being approved, Maurer couldn’t be happier. “This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy,” said Maurer.
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“All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind,” he added.
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The purpose of the ADA is to make the life of everyone who is NOT disabled suck a little more so the people who are disabled don’t feel so bad. Otherwise, it would be a slam dunk: Target has no legal obgligation whatsoever to create or maintain a website; therefore, no one has any right to access it.
Text to Speach, good idea Article Number 123456, $49.95 Colors Available 1. Mauve 2. Okra. 3. Chartruse
Now the synical side, Who will be able to explain the color choices to a blind person that has never seen colors? Is this not why all shopping centers have Customer Assistance for direct contact in case of Special needs or Information ? A Ruling in Favor would mean that every Store/Shop with a Web Site would require 250,000 Cheap Wage Land workers trying to translate everything (this will be fun to follow)..
My Best Guess would be, to take down the site (offline) because of cost overruns, due to 1 person and Lawyer wanting to make the fast buck kill.
Short Comment on the Spilt Coffee at MC D. if I had ordered a Hot Coffee, I would expect it to be HOT not WARM or COLD and spilt it on myself Hang a Sign on me and have it read I was STUPID and CARELESS it was my fault and NOBODY elses.!!
Someday in this lifetime the new answer for all is. If it moved, had the wrong size, shape or label and you don’t understand SUE whoever or whatever that could be responsible that caused you to use your Brain.
I’m just wondering how they plan on making the internet accessible to the blind. The only way I can see to is require all retail sites to implement some kind of text to speech program that would read the website out loud and that would put an unreasonable burden on site owners. I agree with the previous post that having a disability limits some activities and this would seem to fit into that.
I would rank this with the spilt coffee lawsuit at McDonald’s. With all due respect for blind people, having all web sites that sell something accessible to them is akin to actually curing blindness. It is not realistic.
There are many things people with impairments cannot do, no matter how much they may want to. What’s next, suing an auto company for not making driving available to the blind?
I host and maintain several small church websites on a volunteer no cost basis. One of these churches plans on selling t-shirts via their site. Does this now mean that I must also bring the site(s) up to ADA standards?