[blindlaw] Accessible Technology

[Mazen]

This is a very interesting question. Can there be any kind of regulation
that would make emerging consumer technologies accessible? I would posit
that the standard should require the incorporation of accessible design in
technology where doing so is not unduly burdensome. In other words, where
the cost of doing so is not prohibitive.  I think adopting such a regulation
would actually cost businesses far less than figuring out how to make
something accessible after the design is complete. 

This could include an access design assessment, analogous to an
environmental impact statement, that can be part of the development process.


A good example of where this kind of regulation would have made a difference
is in Ipods. it took apple nearly a decade to come out with an Ipod that has
voiceover. Is there any reason why this shouldn't have been part of the
original design?  

Thoughts?

M~


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Freeman [mailto:k7uij at panix.com] 
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 12:54 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Textbooks for disabled, Particularly College
Students

You're absolutely right. However, there's an additional wrinkle: people 
keep innovating and coming up with technologies and appearances of 
documents and/or web pages that screen reading technology can make 
neither hide nor hair of.

I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that ultimately, to legislate 
true accessibility, one must mandate that technology stays fixed.

Ain't a-gonna happen!

Mike Freeman, President
NFB of Washington

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Pepper" <b75205 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:05 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Textbooks for disabled, Particularly College 
Students


The other problem here is that what people deem to be accessible is not
actually accessible.  Just because a document or a webpage complies with
section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act does not make it actually 
accessible
to the blind.  It is infuriating when you deal with people who insist 
that
they followed all the rules and that the documents are certified even by 
the
Access Board as being accessible to the blind using the legal definition 
of
accessibility and yet when you actually try to use it, it is useless.

This separation between the law and reality is the problem.

James Pepper
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