The 1996 telecommunications Act, Section 255, requires disability access to telecommunications, however it does not currently include information technologies such as Web access, e-mail, Internet telephony, or even voice mail. The United States Justice Department (DOJ) has also issued a written opinion stating that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to sites for businesses covered by the Act. Although not proven as of yet in court the DOJ has interpreted that section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act apply and any government-funded Web site must be accessible.
Even the World Wide Web Consortium has established guidelines for accessibility Their Web Accessibility Initiative is the definitive answer for anyone to make their Web site accessible. One only needs to go to their Web site to use this free service. www.canst.org/bobby This site will check your WebPages and show you how to make them accessible. The service is called Bobby. You may load the program for free or just type in your URL and Bobby does the rest. The W3C's web site has all the information for working with accessibility and it is really not as hard as it seems.
So, what does all this mean to you and I. Simply put, Web sites must be able to be accessed by everyone? Many of you out there have no clue to the number of Persons with Disabilities (PWD's), but think, there are the blind, the deaf and hard of hearing, persons that are paralyzed, and the mental disadvantaged. All these persons and more are required by law to have access to the web. The personal web pages have not yet come into the realm of the access question. However, if you are a web designer, even just for your self, it would be to your best interest to learn this new HTML just so you will be ready when the Federal Government steps in and says ALL the web Must be accessible. It will come to that and soon.
Microsoft, SoftQuad, HoTMetaL, and many others are using the Universal Design (UD) features of the W3C and more and more are jumping on the bandwagon. Most of the new access ports to the web, PDA's, telephony, JAVA, and even HTML, are adding new accessibility features as they are built. This should be a clue to everyone that Access Is Important. So important that the Web Geeks are rushing to come up with applications for new and old technology to make it conform to the ADA.
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