I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a big advance.  I think though that it
may be good that the companies are going to do this though.

Johnnie Apple Seed

----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Alfieri" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 12:32 PM
Subject: CURR: CBSnews: Big advance for the blind


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/20/tech/main637154.shtml


Big Advance For The Blind
ALBANY, N.Y., August 20, 2004
In one of the first enforcement actions of the Americans with Disabilities
Act on the Internet, two major travel services have agreed to make sites
more accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

Priceline.com and Ramada.com have agreed to changes that will allow users
with "screen reader software" and other technology to navigate and listen to
the text throughout their Web sites, according to New York Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer.

Although the software and other devices, including a vibrating mouse that
lets the blind "feel" boxes and images on the computer screen, have been
available for years, Web sites must have specific coding that allows the
equipment to operate, Spitzer said.

"This is a precedent-setting decision," said Carl Augusto, president and CEO
of the American Foundation for the Blind. "We hope it's going to be
influencing other companies throughout the United States so that the 10
million blind and visually impaired people can fully participate in our
society at all levels."

"It's the right thing to do, and it's good business," said Augusto, who is
visually impaired.

Spitzer's settlement follows investigations over the last two years to
determine if Web sites conform to the federal act and state law that require
all "places of public accommodation" and all "goods, services, facilities,
privileges, advantages, or accommodations" to be accessible to the disabled.

Priceline.com has already made the Web site accessible for the visually
disabled to get airline tickets, said the firm's spokesman, Brian Ek. By the
end of the year, the entire travel site will be accessible, he said.

Ek said the firm encourages other firms to do the same. He said the firm
isn't releasing the cost of making the entire site accessible for the
visually disabled, but said it won't be enough to reduce earnings.

Rich Roberts, a spokesman for Cendant Corp., the parent company of the
Ramada hotel franchise, said he welcomes the chance to work with Spitzer's
office to provide better online experiences for consumers with visual
impairments.

"Accessible Web sites are the wave of the future and the right thing to do."
Spitzer said. "We applaud these companies for taking responsible and proper
steps to make their Web sites accessible to the blind and visually impaired.
We urge all companies who have not done so to follow their lead."

Ramada.com and Priceline.com, which face no charges and make no admissions
of guilt, will pay the state $40,000 and $37,500 to cover the
investigation's cost. Spitzer said both firms were cooperative.

By Michael Gormley İMMIV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.