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from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49694453

Why much of the internet is closed off to blind people
28 September 2019
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Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
Maysie Gonzales using the internet on her laptop
As our everyday world moves increasingly online, the digital landscape
presents new challenges for ensuring accessibility for the blind. A
recent court challenge against Domino's pizza may be a watershed case
guiding the rights of disabled people on the internet, writes James Jeffrey.

Each swipe 17-year-old Maysie Gonzales makes on her smart phone is
accompanied by what sounds like the famous Stephen Hawking voice barking
out orders at a relentless pace.

"Sometimes I speed it up to 350 words a minute, it depends what mood I
am in," says Ms Gonzales, who lost her sight when she was two years old
through retinal cancer.

Screen readers translate on-screen information into speech or Braille.
They have broken open the internet for people who are blind or visually impaired, and for those with other disabilities.

But the device only works effectively on websites that are compatible.

"Sometimes it can be horrible, it depends on how the website has been
set up," says Ms Gonzales.

If a website's digital infrastructure hasn't been correctly labelled, a
blind person can be met with a barrage of "button! - button! - button!"
or "link 1,752! - link 1,752! - link 1,752!" from that hyperactive mechanical-sounding voice.

ADVERTISEMENT

inRead invented by Teads
Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
The pink markers on Maysie Gonzales’ laptop offer a tactile reference
point from which she can better orientate herself
Hence the case Guillermo Robles, who is blind, brought against Domino's
Pizza after he was unable to use his screen reader to use the company's
website and mobile app.

A federal court agreed with him, and now Domino's has petitioned the
Supreme Court to hear Robles' case, in what could prove a landmark
battle over the rights of disabled people on the internet.

Domino's Pizza defeated in court over app
'I want autistic people to be seen as equal'
Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Will Tokyo be accessible enough?
"This isn't just about ordering the likes of pizza or surfing Amazon,"
says Chris Danielson, a representative with the National Federation of
the Blind (NFB). "People are doing everything online nowadays, so it's
about blind people being able to access the likes of online banking,
applying for employment and doing the necessary online tests, accessing cloud-based tools in the workplace, and all the rest."

It's estimated that 7,600,000 Americans are technically blind - about
2.4% of the population - according to the NFB.

Image copyrightJOE AMON/GETTY IMAGES
"We've even been told by businesses before that they understand, but the
fact is blind people are not a very big market," Mr Danielson says.
"That's what we are dealing with."

Nowadays signs designating access for shoppers with disabilities - from
parking spaces to restrooms to dressing rooms - are a ubiquitous part of
the retail landscape.

This is thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
29-year-old federal law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

But ADA requirements that are relatively clear when applied to physical
stores - such as determining where ramps should go and what height grab
bars should be - become much more difficult to discern with a website.

"The online environment was never intended to be covered by the ADA,"
says Stephanie Martz, senior vice-president and general counsel for the National Retail Federation (NRF), which along with other business groups
like the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Law Center has come out supporting Domino's.

Image copyrightSOLSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
"The ADA took effect before the internet as we know it today existed,
and more than 25 years later there is no clear objective guidance on
what constitutes an 'accessible' website. There's not enough clarity in
the law to know what is accountable."

But advocates like Mr Danielson counter that if one follows that logic
then the whole US Constitution could be undermined. "If a 30-year-old
law is deemed out of date and not applicable then that applies to a
whole lot of laws."

Inventing sign language for deaf scientists
Doctors tackle CMV deafness virus in children
The tech giving people power to deal with disability
As e-commerce has grown, retailers are increasingly faced with ADA
lawsuits over lack of accessibility, particularly for the blind or
visually impaired.

Website accessibility lawsuits hit a record high in 2018, with retail
being the most frequently targeted industry. More lawsuits were filed in
court in the first six months of 2018 (1,053) than in all of 2017 (814), according to the NRF.

The likes of Visa and Target have lost such lawsuits, and earlier this
year a class-action was filed against Beyoncé's official website,
alleging that Beyonce.com violates the ADA by denying visually impaired
users equal access to its products and services.

"To be fair to businesses," Mr Danielson says, "there are lawyers taking advantage of the situation, but cutting the legs from under the ADA is
an overcorrection… and stops the flow of legitimate plaintiffs."

Ultimately, those pushing for digital accessibility argue that
businesses have no excuse for dragging their feet over it.

"It's not hard to do, it should just be part of best practice, not an additional line item, just like making sure a website loads quickly is,"
says Laura Kalbag, a website designer and author of Accessibility for
Everyone.

"It basically just involves HTML coding, which even a blogger can do. If
it is a huge website, it might take some time, but the work itself is
not complicated."

Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
A statue of a man and his guide dog interacting with a little girl
outside the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
She adds it is a myth that making a website accessible makes it ugly,
there is no correlation - you can still have snazzy images and graphics.

Ms Gonzales says that because she is also gluten intolerant, she likes
to use Domino's as it offers gluten-free pizzas, and she has managed to
use its online site. But selecting toppings is tricky - and sometimes
she has had to get her mother to step in.

That the courts are also stepping in is part of the problem, Ms Martz
explains. "This should be dealt with by government and Congress amending
the ADA."

Any discussion of accessibility should look at the whole picture - a
blind person can always ring Domino's toll-free number and order that
way, she adds.

"As a teacher who has to speak all day, sometimes, like everyone else, I
don't want to get into another conversation and just want to do it
online," Jeff Molzow, a blind instructor at the Criss Cole
Rehabilitation Center which trains blind people to compete in the work
force, says about why that toll-free number doesn't always appeal.

"Also, I want time to peruse the menu and make up my mind - you can't do
that if you are speaking to someone on the phone."

The Domino's case is symptomatic, say many working with the blind, of
the wider problem of how blind people, or anyone with a disability, are
still not fully on society's radar.

Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
Jeff Molzow at the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center
"All the info is out there about digital accessibility. Tim Berners-Lee,
the inventor of the internet, was discussing it in the mid-90s, and we
have pushed it for years," says Jim Allan, an accessibility coordinator
at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

"But people still have low expectations of what blind people can do and
don't use their imaginations about the possibilities - until they are
hit with the fire hose of info from the likes of us, after which they
get it."

The awareness of businesses and companies is improving but still slowly,
says Mr Allan, noting that only federal and state websites are mandated
to be fully accessible by all users. This despite digital accessibility
being required by a much larger segment of society, especially as people
age and start to lose sight and hearing.

How do blind people enjoy the Mona Lisa?
NHS to offer gene therapy for rare eye disease
"We treat disabled people as if they are different but that isn't the
case, as digital accessibility affects all of us," says Ms Kalbag. "If
nothing else, you should see it in a selfish way, as one day you will
probably need this type of accessibility."

It is the same in the physical realm, where the likes of wheelchair
access ramps are gladly embraced by mothers with prams and cyclists.

But even when digital accessibility is achieved, challenges remain for
blind people that are familiar to all.

"Sometimes I worry about using social media too much, like everyone
else," Ms Gonzalez says.

"But without my phone I would be very lost - I wouldn't be able to do
much and would be very dependent on others, when I prefer to do it on my
own."

Related Topics
United StatesDisabilityBlindness and visual-impairment
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XPost: soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm.femdom, alt.sex.asphix

Actually it is not costly to make things accessible as many sites now are.
What is the problem is two fold. 1. companies regularly redesign their web sites, if at this stage the guidelines published widely are followed then it just works, but sadly many app and web developers never think first. Add to this education of software engineers should include an accessibility module
but seems not to. Programs and tools used by web developers often treat accessibility as an option not a best practice item.

In Europe we are far ahead of the US as our laws were drafted later and
hence can be interpreted in the right ways.
However I see no reason as has been said why the spirit of the US ADA
should not be applied to everything. Increasingly this is affecting the
jobless as well.
the other issue of course is that even the fully sighted have issues accessing the web these days as those making the sights are so obsessed
with pretty stuff they forget it needs to be functional and intuitive. There
is what is known as the click away effect which makes people get frustrated, and go to a better site to buy their goods. This disability access should be seen this way.
Jaws the leading paid for screenreader has developed a ready made product
for point of sale devices called Jaws for Kiosks. It may add some costs to
the unit, but it means that they will write the scripts to make most stuff accessible with their screenreader. We already have accessible ATM
machines, courtesy of Microsoft. However Link who install them have still
not cracked a phone app to tell us where they are!

In the uk the going online issue is making many people second class
citizens. Have a listen to this short bbc program.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5s12dievf7qgp5b/digital%20exclusion-lowband.mp3?dl=1

AS the article says, in the US saying a law is too old is a dangerous
thing.I seriously think that the lawyers have a vested interest in this, as they make money from such litigation. What is that Weird Al line in Jurassic park? A (insert dinosaur name here) just ate our lawyer, which proves they
are not all bad.


B


--

-----
Mildew_spores@blueyonder.co.uk is the alter ego of
Brian G.
Anything goes here.
Ambiguous statement intended.
"a425couple" <a425couple@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:qn2fog07l4@news3.newsguy.com...

from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49694453

Why much of the internet is closed off to blind people
28 September 2019
Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share
Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
Maysie Gonzales using the internet on her laptop
As our everyday world moves increasingly online, the digital landscape presents new challenges for ensuring accessibility for the blind. A recent court challenge against Domino's pizza may be a watershed case guiding the rights of disabled people on the internet, writes James Jeffrey.

Each swipe 17-year-old Maysie Gonzales makes on her smart phone is accompanied by what sounds like the famous Stephen Hawking voice barking
out orders at a relentless pace.

"Sometimes I speed it up to 350 words a minute, it depends what mood I am in," says Ms Gonzales, who lost her sight when she was two years old
through retinal cancer.

Screen readers translate on-screen information into speech or Braille.
They have broken open the internet for people who are blind or visually impaired, and for those with other disabilities.

But the device only works effectively on websites that are compatible.

"Sometimes it can be horrible, it depends on how the website has been set up," says Ms Gonzales.

If a website's digital infrastructure hasn't been correctly labelled, a
blind person can be met with a barrage of "button! - button! - button!" or "link 1,752! - link 1,752! - link 1,752!" from that hyperactive mechanical-sounding voice.

ADVERTISEMENT

inRead invented by Teads
Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
The pink markers on Maysie Gonzales' laptop offer a tactile reference
point from which she can better orientate herself
Hence the case Guillermo Robles, who is blind, brought against Domino's
Pizza after he was unable to use his screen reader to use the company's website and mobile app.

A federal court agreed with him, and now Domino's has petitioned the
Supreme Court to hear Robles' case, in what could prove a landmark battle over the rights of disabled people on the internet.

Domino's Pizza defeated in court over app
'I want autistic people to be seen as equal'
Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Will Tokyo be accessible enough?
"This isn't just about ordering the likes of pizza or surfing Amazon,"
says Chris Danielson, a representative with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). "People are doing everything online nowadays, so it's about blind people being able to access the likes of online banking, applying
for employment and doing the necessary online tests, accessing cloud-based tools in the workplace, and all the rest."

It's estimated that 7,600,000 Americans are technically blind - about 2.4%
of the population - according to the NFB.

Image copyrightJOE AMON/GETTY IMAGES
"We've even been told by businesses before that they understand, but the
fact is blind people are not a very big market," Mr Danielson says.
"That's what we are dealing with."

Nowadays signs designating access for shoppers with disabilities - from parking spaces to restrooms to dressing rooms - are a ubiquitous part of
the retail landscape.

This is thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
29-year-old federal law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

But ADA requirements that are relatively clear when applied to physical stores - such as determining where ramps should go and what height grab
bars should be - become much more difficult to discern with a website.

"The online environment was never intended to be covered by the ADA," says Stephanie Martz, senior vice-president and general counsel for the
National Retail Federation (NRF), which along with other business groups
like the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Law Center has come out supporting Domino's.

Image copyrightSOLSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
"The ADA took effect before the internet as we know it today existed, and more than 25 years later there is no clear objective guidance on what constitutes an 'accessible' website. There's not enough clarity in the law
to know what is accountable."

But advocates like Mr Danielson counter that if one follows that logic
then the whole US Constitution could be undermined. "If a 30-year-old law
is deemed out of date and not applicable then that applies to a whole lot
of laws."

Inventing sign language for deaf scientists
Doctors tackle CMV deafness virus in children
The tech giving people power to deal with disability
As e-commerce has grown, retailers are increasingly faced with ADA
lawsuits over lack of accessibility, particularly for the blind or
visually impaired.

Website accessibility lawsuits hit a record high in 2018, with retail
being the most frequently targeted industry. More lawsuits were filed in court in the first six months of 2018 (1,053) than in all of 2017 (814), according to the NRF.

The likes of Visa and Target have lost such lawsuits, and earlier this
year a class-action was filed against Beyoncé's official website, alleging that Beyonce.com violates the ADA by denying visually impaired users equal access to its products and services.

"To be fair to businesses," Mr Danielson says, "there are lawyers taking advantage of the situation, but cutting the legs from under the ADA is an overcorrection. and stops the flow of legitimate plaintiffs."

Ultimately, those pushing for digital accessibility argue that businesses have no excuse for dragging their feet over it.

"It's not hard to do, it should just be part of best practice, not an additional line item, just like making sure a website loads quickly is,"
says Laura Kalbag, a website designer and author of Accessibility for Everyone.

"It basically just involves HTML coding, which even a blogger can do. If
it is a huge website, it might take some time, but the work itself is not complicated."

Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
A statue of a man and his guide dog interacting with a little girl outside the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
She adds it is a myth that making a website accessible makes it ugly,
there is no correlation - you can still have snazzy images and graphics.

Ms Gonzales says that because she is also gluten intolerant, she likes to
use Domino's as it offers gluten-free pizzas, and she has managed to use
its online site. But selecting toppings is tricky - and sometimes she has
had to get her mother to step in.

That the courts are also stepping in is part of the problem, Ms Martz explains. "This should be dealt with by government and Congress amending
the ADA."

Any discussion of accessibility should look at the whole picture - a blind person can always ring Domino's toll-free number and order that way, she adds.

"As a teacher who has to speak all day, sometimes, like everyone else, I don't want to get into another conversation and just want to do it
online," Jeff Molzow, a blind instructor at the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center which trains blind people to compete in the work force, says about
why that toll-free number doesn't always appeal.

"Also, I want time to peruse the menu and make up my mind - you can't do
that if you are speaking to someone on the phone."

The Domino's case is symptomatic, say many working with the blind, of the wider problem of how blind people, or anyone with a disability, are still
not fully on society's radar.

Image copyrightJAMES JEFFREY
Image caption
Jeff Molzow at the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center
"All the info is out there about digital accessibility. Tim Berners-Lee,
the inventor of the internet, was discussing it in the mid-90s, and we
have pushed it for years," says Jim Allan, an accessibility coordinator at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

"But people still have low expectations of what blind people can do and
don't use their imaginations about the possibilities - until they are hit with the fire hose of info from the likes of us, after which they get it."

The awareness of businesses and companies is improving but still slowly,
says Mr Allan, noting that only federal and state websites are mandated to
be fully accessible by all users. This despite digital accessibility being required by a much larger segment of society, especially as people age and start to lose sight and hearing.

How do blind people enjoy the Mona Lisa?
NHS to offer gene therapy for rare eye disease
"We treat disabled people as if they are different but that isn't the
case, as digital accessibility affects all of us," says Ms Kalbag. "If nothing else, you should see it in a selfish way, as one day you will probably need this type of accessibility."

It is the same in the physical realm, where the likes of wheelchair access ramps are gladly embraced by mothers with prams and cyclists.

But even when digital accessibility is achieved, challenges remain for
blind people that are familiar to all.

"Sometimes I worry about using social media too much, like everyone else,"
Ms Gonzalez says.

"But without my phone I would be very lost - I wouldn't be able to do much and would be very dependent on others, when I prefer to do it on my own."

Related Topics
United StatesDisabilityBlindness and visual-impairment
Share this story About sharing

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