Propeller Anchor Commentary

Dakota:
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), which helped bring the suit against Target, has reached out to companies in the past, asking them to make their sites compatible with screen reading software, according to John Paré Jr., director of public relations for the NFB.

Since most companies make the requested changes, lawsuits are rare, but in late 1999/early 2000, the NFB sued AOL for the accessibility of its web site, according to Paré. The suit was eventually dropped after AOL made the changes. News site Arstechnica mentions the AOL story here here.

According to Paré, companies must design the HTML on their site so it can be interpreted by screen reading software.

The NFB keeps a list of web sites that have been certified, i.e., that can be interpreted by the software. The list is by no means comprehensive, and most major retailers, like Amazon.com, for instance, can be used with the reading software, even though they aren’t listed on the NFB's list, which can be found here.

In the case of Target.com, there were numerous difficulties for blind users, including the fact that the “check-out" feature wasn’t accessible on the web site, says Paré.

Netscape News contacted Target, who provided the following statement: “While disappointed the lawsuit was not entirely dismissed, Target is pleased with the court’s decision to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. We believe our Web site complies with all applicable laws and are committed to vigorously defending this case. We will continue to implement technology that increases the usability of our Web site for all our guests, including those with disabilities.” (The same statement was given to other news outlets.)

Meanwhile, here is how the screen reading software works: If Paré, who is blind, visited Orbitz, for instance, and had screen reading software installed on his computer, a voice would read all of the text on the page. Short cuts allow users to just hear the links on a page, according to Paré, or automatically go to a certain entry field.

While there are different screen reading software options, JAWS, created by St. Petersburg, Florida-based company Freedom Scientific is one of the more popular readers, according to Paré.

According to Paré, it’s increasingly important for blind people to be able to access web sites since some companies, like airlines, for instance, offer web-only special deals.

2006-09-11 17:14:20