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Do the Blind Deserve More Effort on the Web?
dratcw writes "An article was posted this week to ComputerWorld, detailing the frustrations faced by blind people struggling to use the Web. The piece shows how little progress has been made and the inadequacy of solutions such as Microsoft's Narrator screen reader. While the article generated many positive comments, one reader said the disabled should 'get a grip' and maintained they 'have no more right to demand that others provide for their needs than I, as a diabetic, have a right to demand that sugar no longer be used.' Should Web sites and software makers do more, or does the reality of today's economics dictate that the blind/disabled will continue to struggle and learn to live with it?"
Two things. One - peanut allergies kill. If you have peanut allergies, you can die from it, from just a touch or breathing the tiny particles in the air from a cough or sneeze. Does it make sense to ban peanut butter sandwiches if you have someone allergic to peanuts? Since I have a daughter with severe peanut allergies, I do think so, since I prefer not to have her die a painful death.
Second thing - go read the first post. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING SPECIAL TO MAKE THE WEBSITE EASIER TO USE FOR THE BLIND Just stop using those damned javacrap shit unnecessarily. Why should links be javascripted?! Why shouldn't alt tags be filled out? This has been a standard recommendation since the days of mosaic. Just because you're damned lazy doesn't make it right.
Enough is enough. The web is fine the way it is. We don't need to cow down to who thinks they are special an deserver special treatment. Life isn't fair. If you blind, deaf, or mute then that is the way you are.
This is the same kind of thinking that got us crap like ADA. Making it illegal to have a round door knob any more. Mandating that private business put aside special parking places and entry ramps. While all those are good for business no law should REQUIRE a private business to have them.
What happens if laws get passed that require you to have handicapped accessible webpages? Then the web will wind up getting dumbed down to and bogged down to fit a specific minority of people. Business that don't do this will be opened to lawsuits by predatory disabled lawyers and generally everyone suffers.
I'm sorry you can't do all the things I can do but I should have to be made to suffer because you can't. A line as to be drawn somewhere.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
People with severe peanut allergies can go into shock from the smell of peanuts on your breath. Hard to avoid, isn't it.
Seriously, I know I'm being picky, but how is someone else's allergy my problem?
You share a common space with them, and live in a common civilized society. If all you have to do is eat one or two of your fucking tasty treats somewhere else to make someone's life threatening disability more livable, you're a callous self centered child.
is there anything short of a hazmat suit, or just staying at home, that would keep her from dieing without infringing on anyone else?
We're not even talking about banning the kid from eating peanuts. Just don't do it just before you share a common area with an allergic kid, and don't bring it into that area. It's really not so fucking hard.
Go ahead though. Teach a kid that their right to bring a snack to school outweighs another person's right to have a life. Then go and wonder why society goes to shit, crime goes up etc.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If your daughter is so sensitive that particles of a common food product in the air could kill her, then she should die. If not, she should at least be forcibly sterilized.
Ah ze master race. Hitler, is that you?
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer