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Legislation To Make Web Devices Accessible To Disabled Users
pgmrdlm writes "In an effort to make web devices accessible to the disabled, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (H.R. 3101), submitted by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 348 to 23. The related Senate bill has been introduced by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR). Quoting Representative Markey's website: 'We've moved from Braille to Broadcast, from Broadband to the Blackberry. We've moved from spelling letters in someone's palm to the Palm Pilot. And we must make all of these devices accessible.' The Washington Post coverage notes, 'Some broadcasters put videos on the Internet with captions, but not all. That can make inaccessible everything from the political videos that are now common on the Web to pop culture clips that turn viral.' As someone who has 20/200 vision with my glasses on, I completely agree that the web has not been kind to individuals with various disabilities. But due to the size of the web, and the large number of different devices that access it, is it even possible to legislate something of this nature? Or should we rely on education and peer pressure on the various manufacturers?"
... has ever come anywhere near break even with regard to increased ability of the disabled back into the community?
Euthanasia is often cheaper than letting disabled people live.
Luckily not everything is measured by monetary gain. Unfortunately more and more is, for the sake of the almighty market.
No, it's about time that the government figure out that it's not wanted and get the fuck out of our day-to-day lives. If disabled people are such a profit center, why don't businesses accomodate them on their own? (Answer: they aren't. But since they're too lazy to live their own lives, disabled people are convincing the government to force everybody else to kowtow to them.)
If the private sector recognized the market value there would not be end-users (with disabilities) loudly complaining to their legislators. Your vaunted "leading Internet companies", at least on the social media front, are part of the problem.
I paid the going retail price for a Windows screen reader and got a free Unix computer!