Might as well not force the building of wheelchair ramps, or the usage of Braille, or handicapped parking spaces. It is up to the author, and while "forcing" private web spaces is perhaps not the best option; "strongly recommending" would be acceptable. And for corporations, mandatory accessibility guidelines would be nice.
This is akin to asking the question, "do the handicapped deserve more effort to aid mobility?" A user is a user, and there are plenty of ways to design a site such that the disabled can use it (text-only version is a very simple one). The problem usually lies in lazy designers and coders.
The government mandates a standard (Section 508 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_508) that mandates goverment IT accessibility.
The truth is that no matter what anyone tries to do, accessibility is up to the author - and while care should be taken to address the needs of the disabled, it is far too often overlooked.
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Might as well not force the building of wheelchair ramps, or the usage of Braille, or handicapped parking spaces. It is up to the author, and while "forcing" private web spaces is perhaps not the best option; "strongly recommending" would be acceptable. And for corporations, mandatory accessibility guidelines would be nice.
This is akin to asking the question, "do the handicapped deserve more effort to aid mobility?" A user is a user, and there are plenty of ways to design a site such that the disabled can use it (text-only version is a very simple one). The problem usually lies in lazy designers and coders. The government mandates a standard (Section 508 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_508) that mandates goverment IT accessibility. The truth is that no matter what anyone tries to do, accessibility is up to the author - and while care should be taken to address the needs of the disabled, it is far too often overlooked.