Despite my disability, I am able to read web pages easily, following any links I find intriguing. However, many others with disabilities do not find the Web so easy to use. Many people with physical disabilities have difficulty navigating the Web because they cannot use a mouse or their assistive technology does not allow them to point and click efficiently. People with visual impairments who use screen readers have great difficulty reading web pages with multiple columns and graphics with no text description. Without text captioning, web pages with audio features and multimedia video clips cannot be enjoyed by persons who are deaf or heard of hearing. Furthermore, web surfers with learning disabilities often need more explicit navigation instructions than most pages offer.
Soon, the U.S. government will require all sites with whom they do business to make their web pages accessible to visitors with disabilities. This is an extension of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires that all technology purchased by the government be accessible to individuals with disabilities. An Access Board, including members of the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium and disability advocates, are setting forth the standards to which sites will be held.
The Web access initiative is not without its opponents. Some web designers believe that making their pages accessible will ruin the artistic integrity of their pages. Others believe that this is just another area which the government is infringing on individual rights, over-regulating once again.
To these objections, Web access advocates make very strong counterpoints. First, as the Accessibility Internet Rally for Austin- AIR-AUSTIN competition demonstrated, accessible web pages can still maintain high levels of creativity and interactivity. Second, the Office for Civil Rights (Shelton,1996) has argued that the "effective communication" covered by Title II of the ADA included electronic communication and information, such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web.
It is important to note that the accessibility regulations will only apply to sites receiving government funding in some way. Personal pages and commercial pages not doing business with government agencies cannot be forced to comply. Therefore, it may take more advocacy from web surfers with disabilities convince designers of such pages to implement access features.
Web surfers with disabilities and their advocates should email the authors of sites they find inaccessible or difficult to use, pointing out that they may be excluding as many as 29 Million Americans and countless others throughout the world. Such an e-mail should also point out resources which can help authors make their pages accessible. These include:
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