I wish it was as easy as Dollars, but that just isn't so.
One has to use what is available properly in order to get a
return on those Dollars.  The physical technology has been here
to have very good access since at least the  mid nineties, but
this technology only does what it is programmed to do and, yes,
the big boys do sometimes get it spectacularly wrong.  Many of
the Dollars we spend now on screen access to Windows is good
money being used to fix bad software.  Here is an example.

        Microsoft started pushing Active Accessibility as a way
for Windows applications to tell screen reading software what to
say.  It does work and there are Windows screen readers in the
$50 to $100 price range that will work when you run an Active
Accessibility-equipped program.

        The problem is that Microsoft doesn't follow its own
rules and not all of its products use AA.  Active Accessibility
is voluntary and programmers have to go out of their way to use
it.  That's like asking people not to litter.

        You will have to insist that the vendors use universal
design or you are going elsewhere because you are the customer
and even if not right, are still the customer who will either buy
or decide not  to.

        What purchasing agents and planning committees will have
to do is be unyielding with the big guys and simply insist that
the product must work right now and that is non negotiable,
period, end of conversation.

        I basically do not like the idea of Big Brother telling
business what to do, but we've tried everything else and it isn't
working.  A little more sense would save a lot of those Dollars,

Martin McCormick 405 744-7572   Stillwater, OK
OSU Center for Computing and Information services Data Communications Group
Pardon the weak pun.

Audrey Gorman writes:
>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.

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