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http: //www.gsa.gov/coca/wwwcode.htm
Center for Information Technology Accommodation
General Services Administration
http: //www.trace.wisc.edu/text/guidelns
Trace Center, University of Wisconsin
http: //www.webable.com/index.html
http: //www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/dmd/access/welcom1.htm
Sincerely,
Deval L. Patrick
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
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Deval Patrick
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530
Sincerely,
Tom Harkin
United States Senator
TH/les
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Mime-Version: 1.0
To: tom_harkin@harkin:senate.gov
Subject: ADA and web pages
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Dear Senator Harkin,
I'm a web designer based I Iowa City, and also a lawyer. I contribute a
regular column to the Web Consultant's Association on-line newsletter.
My topics usually lean toward the small designer, but recently a
question of a different sort arose that interested me.
One of the great concerns of web designers today is providing web page
compatability for "web interpretters" for the blind and other
handicapped peoples. These systems require web pages to be Lynx
compatible, which means that the use of almost "essential" elements such
as imagemaps and tables render the pages inaccessible to such people.
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ILLEGIBLE that it would raise the costs of each site, and continued
ILLEGIBLE, by about 35 to 40%.
ILLEGIBLE, someone recently noted that if one were to read the ADA very
strictly, it could be argued that a web page (especially in the case of
a government organization or public service agency) is a "public
accommodation", and hence could be required by law (under the ADA) to be
Lynx compatible. I think this is probably stretching the law a bit
beyond it's intent--especially since the ADA was passed before the web
became the popular tool that it is today. It does raise some
interesting points, though.
I posed the question to the list as a whole, and most designers (there
are 8000 on the list) seemed to think that this was just the type of
thing that might encourage people to "do the right thing" when they
purchased site design. On the other hand, others pointed out that
(beyond the initial cost concerns) government agencies would still mail
materials to anyone who called, so they offered a viable alternative.
My initial response was that, especially in the case of the blind, if
they aren't offering *braille* printed materials, the web converters
are, in fact, the *only* service the agency provides that can be
accessed by the blind in a manner "equal" to that provided to others.
This, of course, only spurred more interest.
In either case, I would be more than happy to forward any material you
thought appropriate to the WCA mailing list (and, if you were interested
in being associated with that issue, to other appropriate lists as well)
in the interest of at least providing some insight from the sponsor of
the ADA itself.
Sorry for the rather quick and dirty note--work calls. I hope my haste
hastened weakened the message.
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appreciate your taking the time to wade through this and, of course,
ILLEGIBLE you the best of luck in the coming election.
Sincerely,
XX
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