Usually, I don’t really comment much on the debates happening online though I do follow them with interest. The reason for not writing much in my own blog here is partly because I don’t consider myself a ‘proper’ blogger (don’t think I am very good at writing – much more of a visual person) and partly as I simply do not have the time. This issue of accessibility however does really get to me – and I find some of the attitudes out there quite shocking – and really sad – so I felt I needed to draw attention to this.

Listening to the .net podcast this morning and looking at some of the links provided – I couldn’t believe how bad things really are. Paul Boag was quoting from a blog post from Jeremy Keith about the response on various forums on the accessibility issues involved in the Target lawsuit.

Jeremy quotes various comments from both SitePoint and TechCrunch which really shocked me. Like Jeremy and Paul – I was under the impression that accessibility conversation were more about the best working practices and methods rather than debates on the need of websites to be accessible – which I thought was a given. I did not think the debate on why accessibility was so important was still going on. I am disappointed how ignorant some of the comments on these posts are – not only to dismiss the need for accessible site setups but even to be directly insulting towards anyone with a disability.

In the past I have taught people with mild to severe disablities and the experience was an inspiring one. Their ability to use the computer and to compensate for their own disadvantages taught me a lot and made it clear to me how important technology can be not only for all of us able bodied people – but even more so for the disabled. Considering how easy it can be to keep any given website accessible by simply using a good and sensible code structure, adding meaningful alt tags and so on – I cannot understand anyone who refuses to take this into consideration. Dismissing the issue of accessibility as just another exercise of political correctness is simply ridiculous.
Have a look for yourself – the article is definitely worth a read and the links are good demonstrations of why accessibility should be incorporated as standard – rather than being debated as some outrageous demand by a minority:
Jeremy Keith | adactio.com: Ignorance and inspiration

Though these comments were a sad reminder of how narrow-minded and ignorant some people are – I do hope that this debate will carry on and will soon silence their voices and win over more and more web designers and developers.
Onto a brighter, friendlier and more accessible web for us all :)