Accessibility of websites to the visually and hearing-impaired
Litigation
The Daily Business Review recently published a commentary via its Board of Contributors concerning this subject: compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
There are not many companies that operate without a website but many are not aware that the lack of access to their content for people with vision and hearing loss may be in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), reports the Review. This has now become an active area of litigation according to the contributors.
Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination by private entities that are open to the public and includes a list of 12 categories of businesses subject to the provisions of the act. These include hotels, restaurants, retail stores, private schools, law offices, and hospitals. When company websites are not specially coded and structured to accommodate the assistive technologies required by people with vision and hearing impairments to access online content, this may constitute a breach of the accessibility regulations.
Inside Higher Ed reported on an interesting example in late September when the University of California, Berkeley, announced that it may opt to remove some online content from its website rather than comply with a US Department of Justice Order to make the content accessible to those with disabilities. The university claimed that the cost of making the content, which is free-of-charge, accessible would be prohibitive in budget terms.
Source: Daily Business Review; Inside Higher Ed.
