Julia,

You make an important point that can't be made too often.  We (the entire library community) need to look at accessibility issues as equity of access for all issues.  We also need to learn about and apply universal design principles to everything we do.  Otherwise the issues and the people they're about get marginalized as extra and the dollars don't come.

As an official first-wave baby boomer, I think you're right that we'll make a difference in this as in other areas.  Our effects on society have been and will continue to be enormous, simply by virtue of numbers.  But a little attitude hasn't hurt, either!

Audrey

>>> [log in to unmask] 05/30/00 10:24AM >>>
Jenny,
I agree with your accessment that the issue of accessibility comes down to
dollars.  I perhaps am a little more hopeful as the baby boomers get older
and need these features, or as in the case of cell phone, want them and
view them as easier.  Sometimes I think our mistake is to try to sell
"accessible" as only good for people who need special interfaces, the
accessible interfaces I've seen in any industry make life easier for
everybody.


Julia Allegrini, Library Supervisor
Northern Kentucky Talking Book Library
502 Scott Boulevard
Covington KY41071

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>         At my Library System, we talked to Innovative last year and
> they actually tried to tell us that their frames-based out-of-the-box
> interface was ADA-compliant.  They don't seem to grasp the scope of
> the issue, so at the very least, we plan to add accesskey and tabindex
> tags into the HTML we can control as the browsers begin to implement
> HTML 4.  This will be a small step though, as we can't control 95% of
> the results screens.
>         I'd love to see ALA address this, but I'm not optimistic (about
> impact on the vendors, not ALA!).  Until it comes down to dollars for
> the vendors, they won't devote resources to this.  Especially for
> catalogs like DRA's that are built on client-side Java.
>
> Jenny Levine
> [log in to unmask] 
> Internet Development Specialist
> Suburban Library System
> http://www.sls.lib.il.us/ 
>

Barrier-free Web Design Online Workshop
Workshop starts June 7, 2000
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops/easiweb.htm

Barrier-free Web Design Online Workshop
Workshop starts June 7, 2000
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops/easiweb.htm