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Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

latimes.com

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Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#311

Post by nazka »

mltony wrote: post #74

Blind programmer here. Just a glimpse of my life. Blind people have to live in an environment where X% of web sites and programs are not accessible, where X varies somewhere from 20% (for web sites) to 50% (for desktop applications). That's just my approximation of the state of accessibility these days. Now imagine that you live in the world where you don't know which printer or wi-fi router to buy, since maybe half…

Thank you for sharing. For you what are the best resources out there to learn how to do a proper design for blind people or having other disabilities? Also do you have some examples of website done right in UX for blind people? Like for instance I remember using tab on Youtube and they placed a very handy hidden `Skip Navigation` button after 2 tabs that makes navigation faster and easier. Do you have example of that?

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#313

Post by cool-RR »

mltony wrote: post #74

Blind programmer here. Just a glimpse of my life. Blind people have to live in an environment where X% of web sites and programs are not accessible, where X varies somewhere from 20% (for web sites) to 50% (for desktop applications). That's just my approximation of the state of accessibility these days. Now imagine that you live in the world where you don't know which printer or wi-fi router to buy, since maybe half…

I wonder whether there's a tool that could make websites tactile. Like, a pad with pins that can be programmatically raised and touched, and are used for drawing the website's layout. You could put your hands on it, touch it and feel the layout of the website, scroll around, and eventually click your selection. It can substitute braille font for the font used on the website.

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#314

Post by oliveremberton »

carlmr wrote: post #254
oliveremberton wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We wrote a free screen reader simulator for this purpose (Chrome plugin): https://silktide.com/resources/toolbar It’s not a substitute for real-world testing, but it should help you appreciate the basics without having to learn a full screen reader. We’re also working on some accessibility games right now (scores challenges for you to complete in a browser with a simulated disability), which sound a lot like what you…

I was surprised to find myopia here. Is there a level of myopia that can't be corrected with glasses and thus is a disability?

Pathological myopia can't be corrected with glasses.

TBH we call it "myopia" in the plugin because it's short and what we think most users would understand. Many visual disabilities cause a similar blurring effect, such as cataracts.

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#315

Post by dansingerman »

dorgo wrote: post #297
kls wrote: post #149

So somehow along my career I fell into accessibility dev for a while. Funny enough it was one of the most lucrative dev jobs I did and there was always plenty of work. It is easily outsourced to a remote developer because all you really need is a browser and a screen reader. In my opinion there really is no reason for even mom and pop sites to not provide even a base level of accessibility, it really is just setting…

> it really is just setting tab indexes in correct order, as well as making sure items have alt and title tags Sounds like it could be part of SEO effort. If it can be checked programmatically then search engines should add accessibilty to their ranking algorithms. It worked for mobile.

This is a great comment.

Imagine the investment that would suddenly start in accessibility if Google publicly announced it was an important part of search engine rankings.

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#316

Post by jdnenej »

mlang23 wrote: post #284
carlmr wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are CLI tools inherently accessible?

I guess 99.9% are. However, it is pretty hard to order a pizza or buy your weekly load of groceries with a CLI tool :-) If you want to interact with the rest of the world, you will likely need to use the web...

Have you tried Emacs?

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#317

Post by rriepe »

cool-RR wrote: post #313
mltony wrote: post #74

Blind programmer here. Just a glimpse of my life. Blind people have to live in an environment where X% of web sites and programs are not accessible, where X varies somewhere from 20% (for web sites) to 50% (for desktop applications). That's just my approximation of the state of accessibility these days. Now imagine that you live in the world where you don't know which printer or wi-fi router to buy, since maybe half…

I wonder whether there's a tool that could make websites tactile. Like, a pad with pins that can be programmatically raised and touched, and are used for drawing the website's layout. You could put your hands on it, touch it and feel the layout of the website, scroll around, and eventually click your selection. It can substitute braille font for the font used on the website.

There's an idea for this called the Braille e-book. I don't think anyone's actually brought one to market, though.

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#318

Post by traderjane »

Because there are a myriad of perceptual issues and the idea of reporting specific perceptual needs is likely an unnecessarily severe data disclosure, wouldn't it be best for non-app websites to have their content mapped out according to some standardized API for consumption by their client?

Re: Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible

#319

Post by jdnenej »

rednixion wrote: post #275
DubiousPusher wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet in an increasingly online world, refusing to make one's site accessible is tantamount to refusing to install a ramp in place of stairs.

A counter to that analogy is that where/when ramp access is needed and how one should be built in order for it to be usable is defined by building codes and the concept is well understood. Without what clear definition or a method to get a website's accessibility "certified" makes it seem like allowing litigation is not going to be produce meaningful results and could be easily abused.

This could easily be solved by requiring that the disabled person first contact the company and explain how the site is not accessible and if the company refuses to provide a solution then you can sue. The idea being that it never gets to the legal part because the company knows it is much cheaper to fix their website.
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