WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Aug 27, 2008 11:50AM

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 9:17 AM, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Is it really? It's good news for the NFB, its claimants, and Jim
> Thatcher (in the sum of $6 million+), but I think the majority of the
> accessibility community was hoping for some long-awaited case law that
> might better define the relationship of the Internet and the Americans
> with Disabilities Act.

I need to clarify my comments here. My wording above seems to suggest
self-interest by all parties involved. This is not what I intended.
Jim Thatcher is a consultant with NFB and will not be a direct
recipient of settlement monies. While I'm unaware of what his future
involvement will be in making the target web site more accessible as
part of this settlement, I have nothing but glowing praise for Jim and
the work he has done in the web accessibility field. My comment was
not to suggest self-interest on Jim's part, but to recognize him as
having played a significant role in this positive outcome. Indeed the
outcome likely would have been different without Jim's expertise. He
has always acted in the best interest of people with disabilities.

As a web consultancy, WebAIM has greatly benefited from work with
other corporate entities who are interested in web accessibility and
in minimizing liability, most of this a result of publicity
surrounding the Target lawsuit. I suspect this ruling will make us and
fellow web accessibility consultants even more in demand. Despite
this, I still feel that in this case the overall benefit to people
with disabilities is not nearly as significant as it would have been
if definitive case law had been established.

I've written an overview of the settlement and provided some
commentary on our blog at
http://webaim.org/blog/target-lawsuit-settled/

Jared Smith
WebAIM