[musictlk] Inaccessible online contact forms and Websites

[Mike Freeman]

Joshua:

I believe all of us share your frustration.  However, I wonder if you've
pondered the following questions:

(1) To what extent do these blind musicians (yes, including Ronnie Millsap)
have control over their own affairs and to what extent are they "kept"
people?  Lest you think I'm casting aspersions on blind musicians, plenty of
sighted musicians (famous and otherwise) are also "kept".  Specifically, how
much control or knowledge do they even have over their own websites?

(2) You desire an enforcement mechanism.  What would it be, who would do the
enforcing and, perhaps most importantly, who would pay for the enforcement?
What leverage would we have, considering that we're a small minority and
that these websites may or may not be places of public accommodation under
the Americans with Disabilities Act?  NFB can't sue the owners/operators of
every website.

The only viable option is to try to contact the website administrators to
try to get them to change.  This may require sighted assistance.

Good luck!

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Joshua Lester
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 8:22 PM
To: NFBnet Music Talk Mailing List
Subject: [musictlk] Inaccessible online contact forms and Websites

Hi, it's Joshua Lester. Before the moderator accuses me of going off
topic, this has something to do with musicians. I'm tired of musicians
in general putting inaccessible contact forms on their sites. Those
forms include security codes, that we have to type in, in order for
the E-mails to send. I'm fine with security, but they should do what
some sites are already doing. They're putting an audio file there, so
you can hear those characters, that they want you to type in. Two
sites of interest, are of blind musicians. Gordon Mote, and Ronnie
Milsap have inaccessible forms on their sites. Gordon, is a Southern
Gospel singer/musician, and Ronnie Milsap is a famous Country star.
They're both blind. They should have thought about that. I have also
noticed that some sites have music as soon as you go on their site.
You can't shut it up! It's hard to hear Jaws reading something, when
their music is blasting at you! I can hit escape, on some sites, and
that shuts it up. Some sites, however, aren't that easy. What I'm
calling for is across-the-board accessibility regulations on all
Websites, be they music, news, or other. I'm tired of this mess! These
people should be more considerate.
Blessings, Joshua

_______________________________________________
musictlk mailing list
musictlk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/musictlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
musictlk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/musictlk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com