Here's a little thought experiment. Imagine trying to use a computer without using the mouse or with the monitor shut off.

For most people who use computers, the behaviors associated with interacting with information technology have become familiar actions. We point and click and listen and gaze at the rich variety of content coming at us through that window on the virtual world called the browser.

In the knowledge-based economy, a vast number of people earn their living or obtain an education pushing icons around a desktop, typing into forms and dialog boxes, creating content, and reading documents using an array of software applications and interfaces.

For the growing number of computer users with disabilities, however, these conventions become useless when they cannot see the screen or have lost the ability to move efficiently about the interface. For them, functioning without the use of a mouse or a screen display isn't left to the imagination; it is the reality they confront each day in their attempts to participate in the information economy.

These are people with visual disabilities like blindness or mobility issues like paralysis, which—in addition to making many of life's simple tasks more difficult—make it harder to use computers. For them, accessible software design is essential to full participation in the employment, educational, and recreational opportunities that information technology offers.

The Impact of Section 508

There was a lot of news about accessibility when the US government in 1998 expanded the Rehabilitation Act of 1986. This was the version that called for the binding, enforceable standards found in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and that ultimately came to be referred to as "Section 508."

It took the United States Access Board two years to develop the technical standards that Section 508 would rely on. When the expanded version went into effect in 2001 there was great fanfare as the new, enforceable Section 508 became the law of the land. But whom did that law really affect?

While drawing attention to the issues that people with disabilities face when using what the government defined as "electronic information and technology," the scope of the law was limited to the procurement practices of United States federal executive agencies and their websites. This excluded the private sector entirely, as well as the other two branches of the federal government—legislative and judicial. To their credit, Congress and the US courts voluntarily adopted Section 508 as well.

So whatever happened to accessibility? While the news value of Section 508 has faded in the five years since the technical standards were issued, its impact has not. Recent items in the news (see later) indicate that accessibility is just as important as when Section 508 went into effect—and that it impacts us all, whether or not we are dealing with the US government.

As a result of Section 508, laws and regulations requiring information technology to be accessible have expanded beyond the jurisdiction of the US federal executive agencies and into the private sector and international law. Many of these new laws use the technical standards enumerated in Section 508 as their model.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Even if you are not interested in selling electronic and information technology to the US government, accessibility law as it relates to information technology could still affect you.

More and more, the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are having an impact on web developers and software publishers. Signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA "prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, programs and services provided by state and local governments, goods and services provided by private companies, and in commercial facilities."

Increasingly the ADA, which is enforced by the United States Justice Department, is being successfully applied to websites. In an opinion letter issued in September 1996, the Justice Department determined that "Covered entities under the ADA are required to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well."

Applying the ADA to websites opens the door for assessing websites and technology companies with high-profile civil penalties. Indeed, some high-profile cases have recently brought that point home.

In August 2004, Cendant Corporation, owner of Ramada.com and Priceline.com, settled a lawsuit brought by the state of New York and Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. In the settlement, Cendant agreed to make Ramada.com and Priceline.com easier to use for the blind and visually impaired. In addition, Cendant will pay New York state $77,500 for the cost of the state's investigation.

The law is being applied to all manner of disabilities and technologies. In September 2005, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and the law firm of Outten & Golden filed a class-action discrimination complaint in Connecticut after Morgan Stanley refused to accept a stock trade order from a deaf account holder, Donald A. Bruner, Jr., who called using a telecommunications relay service.

In February 2006, a blind UC Berkeley student filed a class-action lawsuit against the website hosted by Target Corporation, the Minnesota-based retailer. The suit alleges violations of the ADA, stating, "Target thus excludes the blind from full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of daily life." Joining in the suit is the National Federation of the Blind.

What Can You Do?

As a web developer, what can you do to make your website accessible to everyone and keep your employer or client from being the subject of similar news items?

A first step is to educate yourself in skillfully wielding the tools you use. As an industry leader in accessibility, Adobe supports the creation of great web experiences by encouraging web developers to produce rich, engaging content that is accessible to everyone. Part of that encouragement is providing information about achieving accessible results using Adobe products. Adobe maintains extensive information about the accessibility of its products and the content they produce on the Adobe accessibility website.

You can find best practices for accessible Macromedia Flash design at the Accessibility Resource Center for Adobe's Macromedia products.

You will also find information about the accessibility of the various products themselves in what are known as Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs). The VPAT is a standardized form that lists all the regulations of Section 508 and explains how a given product helps you comply with each regulation. There are both Macromedia product VPATs and Adobe product VPATs available.

The web has many resources to assist you in interpreting the laws and technical standards that define accessible web and content design. Adobe's list of accessibility links and resources catalogs the major accessibility standards and guidelines, and provides information about accessibility-related organizations and vendors of assistive technology.

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