The Wall Street Journal


   November 5, 1999 [Tech Center]

Must Web Sites Be Accessible
To All, Including the Blind?

   By NICK WINGFIELD
   Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

   Do Web sites have a legal obligation to accommodate the disabled, the
   way public malls and buildings do?

   In what could be a key test of disability law in cyberspace, the
   National Federation of the Blind has filed a lawsuit against America
   Online Inc., alleging that the online service is violating federal law
   by remaining inaccessible to blind users.

   The Baltimore group's complaint charges that AOL's software doesn't
   work with special computer programs that dictate text and otherwise
   help blind users operate applications and Web sites. As a result, the
   world's most popular online service is inaccessible to the 600,000 and
   800,000 legally blind people in the U.S., according to the National
   Federation of the Blind.

       [Go] Join the Discussion: How much should an online service or Web
       site do to accommodate the needs of the disabled? What software or
   services currently available are best at making the Net more useful to
                                                                    them?

                                   * * *

                                     [Go] Company Profile: America Online

   Nine blind individuals were also named as plaintiffs in the suit,
   filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston, which claims that AOL
   isn't complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. The
   landmark 1990 law compelled public places to install wheelchair ramps,
   Braille signs and other accessibility features for the disabled.

   A spokesman for AOL, based in Dulles, Va., says the company was
   "disappointed" with the lawsuit. "We understand the desire of members
   of the blind community to receive full benefits of the Internet," said
   Rich D'Amato, the spokesman. "We are committed to working with blind
   and disabled users until that's achieved."

   The suit hinges on a basic question: does AOL represent a "public
   accommodation" under the ADA? The law has traditionally been applied
   to physical places like restaurants, sports arenas and shopping
   centers, not the digital corridors of the Internet.

   The disabilities advocates could have a strong case, some legal
   experts say, given the explosion of service online, from grocery
   shopping to stock trading. "I think there can be persuasive arguments
   that can be made" in favor of the plaintiffs, says Gary Phelan, a
   lawyer specializing in ADA cases based in New Haven, Conn. "In some
   ways the Internet is becoming the shopping mall of the 90s."

   Others attorneys are more cautious. "Could go either way," says Ruth
   Colker, a professor of law at the Ohio State University College of Law
   in Columbus, noting that courts "haven't been super-generous in
   interpreting" the list of locales covered by the disability law.

   Bitter Irony

   The suit highlights one of the bitter ironies of the Internet: While
   cyberspace represents a potentially powerful new way for disabled
   people to access information and services without leaving their homes,
   the Net remains a highly visual medium geared towards sighted users.

   A number of software makers have attempted to make the Web more
   accessible to blind users through "screen readers," software that
   verbally dictates text on computer screens. In addition, some software
   makers have designed their programs so that they can be easily
   navigated using keyboard shortcuts, eliminating the need to use a
   mouse.

   Meanwhile, industry organizations, such as the World Wide Web
   Consortium, have begun promoting accessibility guidelines to Web
   publishers. For example, they are encouraging Web publishers to
   provide textual descriptions of photographs so that screen readers can
   read the material for the blind.

   But while disabilities advocates agree that many Web sites have made
   progress, they say AOL still remains largely unavailable to the blind.
   Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind,
   complained the service doesn't work with screen-reader software. "You
   can get at some things on Yahoo, but you can't get anything on AOL" if
   you're blind, says Mr. Mauer, who is himself blind. "You can't even
   sign up with it."

                                                World Wide Web Consortium
                                              Web Accessibility Home Page
                               www.w3.org/WAI/References/ Policy.html#ADA

                                                U.S Department of Justice
                                                            ADA Home Page
                                        www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

                                               U.S. Department of Justice
                                                 comments on the Internet
                                                              and the ADA
                                        www.usdoj.gov/crt/foia/tal712.txt

                                         National Federation of the Blind
                                                              www.nfb.org

   Technical experts said the AOL service can easily be made accessible
   to the disabled. However, in order for AOL to work with screen-reader
   software, the online provider needs to provide simple technology that
   allows screen-reader makers to hook their software into the service.

   Henter-Joyce Inc., a software company in St. Petersburg, Fla., that
   makes a screen reader called JAWS for Windows, says it has programmed
   its application to dictate messages exchanged through AOL Instant
   Messenger, a chatting program made by AOL. Wilson Craig, marketing
   manager at Henter-Joyce, says the company hadn't yet tried to make its
   software work with the full-blown AOL service.

   Rather, Mr. Craig says his company has focused its efforts on making
   its screen reader work Web browsers, such as Netscape Communicator and
   Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. As a small company serving a
   niche market, Henter-Joyce says focusing on Web browsers rather than
   AOL was a better use of its resources.

   AOL, meanwhile, says it is eager to make its service more accessible
   to blind users. Mr. D'Amoto, the AOL spokesman, says a new version of
   the service due next year will work with screen readers for the blind
   and provide keyboard shortcuts for blind users. Daniel Goldstein, an
   attorney for the National Federation for the Blind, says he would need
   to see the changes before moving to drop the suit. "This isn't
   something they've communicated to the blind community before today,"
   he says.


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