Locking Out the Disabled

Uncle Sam Steps In

Not every company sees accessibility as a smart business decision, but those that do not could find themselves in trouble with the law. Last year, the National Federation of the Blind filed suit against America Online, arguing that because AOL's software does not work with screen readers, the service violates the ADA. Under Title III of the act, passed in 1990, all "public accommodations" must provide reasonable access to persons with disabilities. In 1996, the Department of Justice ruled that Web sites are public accommodations and must therefore offer access to the disabled. (A separate law mandates that federal sites created after August 7, 2000, be accessible.)

"Traditionally, what has been covered by the ADA is physical structures," says Curtis Chong, director of technology for the NFB. "We in the National Federation of the Blind believe that although we don't have many problems accessing buildings, the world is moving in the direction that everything one does revolves around electronic services and the Internet. If the blind can't use that information, we will not be able to compete. We will be relegated to the backwaters of the electronic information highway."

Chong says that before filing suit, the organization asked AOL to modify its software, but the company "pretty much ignored us." Nicholas Graham of AOL reports that the company is talking with the NFB. He says AOL will support screen readers in future versions of its software, although he can't say when. Editor's note: As this story went to press, the NFB dropped its lawsuit against AOL, after the company agreed to make its Internet browsing software and content compatible with screen-reading programs.

The NFB is considering suits against other ISPs and Web sites. "The AOL suit has drawn people's attention to the fact that this is a serious issue," says Cynthia Waddell, ADA coordinator for the city of San Jose, California. The ADA mandates both that sites be accessible to the disabled and that workers can request that their own company's site be redesigned so they can perform their jobs, she says.

Waddell says many businesses fear the expense that could accompany redesigning their sites to comply with the ADA, but accessible design isn't necessarily costly. "When the ADA was passed in 1990, there was concern that businesses would go bankrupt because they would have to make their buildings accessible," she explains. "Now we're hearing the same argument."

Steve Jacobson, vice president of the computer science division for the National Federation of the Blind, says such concerns are mostly groundless. "Some of [this is] fear mongering.... We're not looking at a massive rewrite of Web pages but at working with Web designers to make pages accessible."

Earlier this year, the NFB and the Connecticut attorney general's office reached an agreement with four companies that provide online tax filing services. The Internal Revenue Service listed HDVest, Intuit, H & R Block, and Gilman & Ciocia on its site as partners for e-filing, but users with screen readers couldn't file returns on those sites. The firms agreed to make their sites accessible by the 2000 tax season.

Similarly, the California Council of the Blind has been working with large financial institutions to ensure that their sites are accessible. The first agreement was reached in March with Bank of America. "I think it's really important to get people in the institutions to understand why technology should be accessible," says Lainey Feingold, a disability rights lawyer in Berkeley, California, who represents the council. "We approached the banks and said, 'You have a problem here.' They've been totally on board."