Lawsuit over web site accessibility for the blind becomes class action
October 4th, 2007
Lawsuit over web site accessibility for the blind becomes class action
A lawsuit brought in 2006 by a blind student at the University of California-Berkeley has now morphed into a class action case against US retailer Target. A federal judge has just certified a nationwide class in the case, which alleges that Target’s web site is not fully accessible to the blind. It’s a case that could help establish the ways in which the Americans With Disabilities Act applies to the Internet, and it has already generated a ruling that, in California at least, commercial web sites must be accessible.
This is definitely something to keep an eye on.
A few months ago, I installed the ‘noscript’ extension for Firefox – it essentially blocks scripts from running on domains unless I give explicit permission. I have been very disappointed to see how many sites do not operate correctly with scripts disabled. I believe this issue is very related to the issue of disabled website visitors.
I think it would be no bad thing to require certain standards be followed, and would eliminate some really poor website design choices (i.e. all-flash sites, at least most of the time).