Should Online Stores Be Subject To ADA?

prostoalex writes, "HTML tutorials usually mention alt tags for images and noscript tags as something optional that a Web designer should add to a site for the crawlers and users browsing with graphics or JavaScript turned off. However, a recent lawsuit against Target by the National Federation of the Blind accuses the retailer of not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since Target's online store is unbrowsable with a screen reader, the nation's 200,000 blind people who go online cannot become paying customers, the NFB contends. From the article: 'In denying Target's motion to dismiss the suit two months ago, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel... held that the law's accessibility requirements applied to all services offered by a place of public accommodation. Since Target's physical stores are places of public accommodation, the ruling said, its online store must also be accessible or the company must offer equally effective alternatives.' Does the judge's name ring a bell? Yes, it's the same Marilyn Hall Patel who handled the RIAA's case against Napster in 2001." Web builders and tools may need to start brushing up on the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Re:ADA is bad law

[Snarfangel]

Luckily, my house has stairs, so they'll be stuck milling around outside in their wheelchairs when they come to get me.

Re:ADA is bad law

[Tackhead]

> ADA = tyranny of the handicapped.

Flash = tyranny of the clueless.

I'm no fan of the ADA, but anything that puts Flash developers on the streets with signs saying "Will skip intros for food" is OK by me.

Re:ADA is bad law

[corbettw]

Yeah, cause it's nearly impossible for deaf people to navigate a website...

Just getting STARTED, my friend!

[ScentCone]

Should be require every mom-and-pop store and restaurant to buy a TDD (Teletype Device for the Deaf) so that deaf people can call them on the phone and place orders?

No! Every store should have to employ someone who signs in American Sign Language (and every other dialect too, of course, in case you get a foreign handicapped person) to be ready to answer a video conference call. Also, in case of a Helen Keller type situation, you'll need someone who can spell things out in brail, real-time. Also, if that person weighs 500 or so pounds, the required electric wheelchairs (which should be able to auto-navigate the store in case you're blind, and read out to you in brail, what's on the shelves as you go by) should be able to handle at least half a ton skinniness-challenged shopper.

*sigh*

Re:ADA is bad law

[bano]

go ahead

Brainstorm

[liak12345]

Can we get them to go after the RIAA for not making their music accessible to the deaf?

Re:ADA is bad law

[techno-vampire]

I think I have a way to deal with clueless lusers that make it impossible to skip flash introductions that the Mikado would be proud of:

Put them in solitary confinement until they can fill out a 500 page webform explaining why they should be released. Every page has a non-skippable flash intro, the answers on the form are maintained by session cookies and the form is only accessible by a very noisy 14.4 dialup connection that can't be re-established without closing their browser.

It's not life imprisonment, officially, but it might as well be.