In issue #1, we discussed some of the legal issues that pertain to web accessibility.  We entered this arena at this time because of the 20th year birthday of the Americans With Disabilities Act.  It seemed important to discuss where some of the web content accessibility issues arose and what has been done to address those same issues in a legal sense.

Next month, there will be an issue devoted to misconceptions about web content accessibility.  The only way to get copies of these newsletter is to sign-up.  Please go to my Sign-Up page and fill-in the simple form to be sure you get on the mailing list for the monthly newsletters.

And, of course, do check out the other pages on my site to catch a glimpse of what Web Access Consulting is all about.  And, subscribe to my “Blog” feeds to stay current with my posts.

It’s hard to believe that the ADA is now twenty years in the making, celebrating a birthday of sorts only a day ago or so.  I was watching a PBS new broadcast that was featuring the ADA and its growth over the past twenty years.  This made me realize that this law has made some nice changes for persons with and without disabilities over time.

A young twenty one year old woman who had a disability was being interviewed and spoke of her difficulties of getting the people who oversee the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) to allow her what she feels are her needed accommodations – accommodations she’s had available her entire life.   As the articulate young woman spoke, it made me realize that there were possible remedies she could use to allow for her accommodations.

What I believe to be the case follows:

Were this young woman to have ever had a 504 Plan while attending school throughout her younger years, she may have had accommodations that were written into her 504 Plan.  Believe it or not, these 504 accommodations follow a person for the rest of their life – and, I believe that the LSAT administrators would have to honor her previous accommodations.  So – if you are a parent of a student with a disability who can achieve well academically, be sure to have a 504 Plan written up.  This will be a helpful tool that can help to assure that your son or daughter has the accommodations they need to be successful community members.

ADA and Web Accessibility

I will keep this short as I need to update my research in the area of web accessibility and the ADA law.  As far as I know, the “jury” is still out on this one.  The one thing the courts have addressed related to web accessibility and the ADA is the notion that the ADA was meant to address the physical aspects of accessibility (ramps, elevators, door handles, counter height, etc).  In essence, the ADA deals with the “brick and mortar” aspects of accessibility.

This being said, it is likely the case that the courts (federal courts, most likely) will reverse their direction and hold web site owners accountable for making their content accessible.  This will especially be the case for individuals who are doing business on the internet.  Notice that I said, individuals.  Yes, this is not a situation that will only apply to government agencies…it will apply to all of us who have a commercial presence on the web.

Anyway, stay tuned as I do further research to find out where the courts are headed.

Until then, Happy Birthday to the ADA.

Hopefully, you will read through my various pages.  I have kept everything really simple, stayed away from jargon and will solely focus on web content accessibility.

Please realize, however, I have a background and some experience with web development tools – this is a huge help as I work with clients who are in fact using these tools.  My goal will be to help you help yourself.

I’ve not gotten there yet but I will try to get my first newsletter out on the 1st of August and on every first of the month thereafter.  I will cover some of the following topics as I move along with this site and my communication with visitors:

• Legal Issues
• Development Tools
• Common Accessibility Mistakes
• WCAG 2.0 Guidelines
• Content Writing for Accessibility
• Disability Related Resources
• Actual Web Examples (Good and Not So Good)
• Online and Off-Line Accessibility Checkers
• Use of Color (Alone and in Context)
• Other

If you are interested in these topics (and you should be), please sign up for the free newsletter on my Sign-Up page.