I'm not here to suggest that an inaccessible website is good, only that
there are ways to change it, and the issue isn't as simple as money and a
clear choice of right and wrong as to how one exerts influence.
How, in the past, have we convinced businesses to put their information in
braille and on cassette? It wasn't by demanding that the Amway Corporation
do it before we would get involved, it was by getting involved, proving we
could make sales, winning friends who, after a time, were shocked that info
was so hard for us to get at and made it their mission to help us.
This morning I posted this note to another list. I submit it for your
thoughts here.
I suggest the real test of the agreement is whether, say in six months, the
shopping center is still inaccessible. I think this gives many of us the
opportu;nity to write a letter saying something like:
I was persuaded to shop at your site since you have an agreement with a
charity I very much support. Unfortunately your site is not one I can use
as someone who is blind. Here's is what you need to do to get my business.
There is a certain irony to being able to use funds generated from in
inaccessible site in the fight for accessibility. If, after a reasonable
period of time, we do not see that access, then we
can go to President Maurer and others, saying we've tried without success
to get this working, and in the absence of progress, we should look for
another site and make our work and our leaving very public.
Gary Wunder
[log in to unmask]
Home: 573/874-1774
Work: 573/882-2561
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
|