6 replies to this topic

[cre8pc]

Here is an interesting article - The End of Accessibility?

 

She brings up some thoughts about how the technology for the Internet was never intended for what has turned into.  In our rush to see what we could do with it, the ability to use each new technology associated with the Internet got lower and lower on the "need to have" scale.  When I started reading the article I thought she was advocating accessibility with the hope that someday all digital devices and web sites will be usable by everyone, no matter their disability.

 

But she turns and throws out the idea that accessibility is not possible and demanding it means putting limits on design, creativity and tech development.

 

The author of the article, Susan Wassmer, writes:

 

If the internet is to avail enjoyable and equitable digital experiences for as many people as possible, trying to make everything accessible to everyone is just preposterous.

 

I had trouble following her logic and I was confused about her attempts to support her opinion.  She talks about "choice" but I'm not clear on what she means by that.  In any case, it's the kind of article that prompts a look at accessible design and where we're at with it.

 

[tam]

She seemed to be saying it's not 'accessible' unless everyone is able to use the same software/equipment to to the same tasks, but that's okay we shouldn't insist everyone does cos that hampers innovation. But tome, a good portion of the web is about proving information in a way that it can be consumed however a user wants - to me that is accessibility and it's not disappearing, if anything I think it's getting better!

[bobbb]

I long to live in a world where there is no discrimination

Star Trek comes to mind but that's television.

I think she is right. It's nice to be Utopian and idealistic like when you were 20.  It's a great goal to strive for. Then reality kicks in. Bottom line she is saying it will never happen. Just like my solution in the thread "Google Transition Rank: We’Re All Spammers Now"

Edited by bobbb, 15 February 2013 - 02:01 PM.

[DCrx]

Accessibility has descended into dogma about complying with standards. Accessibility hasn't been about users for a long time.

 

Play with Web Accessibility Gone Wild.

 

For anyone who has actually heard the Jaws reader parse a site, you do not label your vapid stock photography for accessbility. You get Jaws to skip over that stuff for accessiblity.

Edited by DCrx, 15 February 2013 - 05:49 PM.

[tam]

That's just a misunderstanding about applying accessibility/what alt tags are. They should provide the same information the image does, so if it's a stock photo there to look pretty then it should be set to nothing i.e. alt="" if the picture provides information visually that isn't already available on the page, for example a map that conveys visually that your shop is between town x and town y, then the alt should say that. I blame SE in part for that, alt tags got hijacked for SEO.

[joedolson]

Accessibility has descended into dogma about complying with standards. Accessibility hasn't been about users for a long time.

 

That's really not true. Some advocates of accessibility are dogmatic about compliance with standards. Accessibility standards authors are certainly dogmatic about standards. But *accessibility* is only about users -- and not about standards at all.

 

This article is really by somebody missing the point: accessibility isn't about intrusively demanding that everything is equally accessible to everybody; it's about avoiding placing barriers to access when there is no need to do so. Most of web accessibility is just about trying to get people to take the small extra steps that will make a huge difference to the experience of users of assistive technology -- making everything equally accessible to all? Not even on the road map.

 

There are a lot of articles out there written by people promoting accessibility who, unfortunately, have only a shallow understanding of what accessibility is about -- but this shouldn't be taken as an interpretation of what accessibility really is; just what people who don't really get accessibility tend to come away with.

[cre8pc]

I always drink Joe's kool-aid.  This is why he's my #1 mentor for accessibility!

 

accessibility isn't about intrusively demanding that everything is equally accessible to everybody; it's about avoiding placing barriers to access when there is no need to do so. Most of web accessibility is just about trying to get people to take the small extra steps that will make a huge difference to the experience of users of assistive technology -- making everything equally accessible to all? Not even on the road map.