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Judge: Disabilities Act doesn't cover Web

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Oct 21, 2002 3:51PM

A federal judge ruled Friday that Southwest Airlines does not
have to revamp its Web site to make it more accessible to the
blind and dismissed the lawsuit brought by Access Now.

Get the whole story at:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html?tag=fd_top_8

You can also get the entire ruling at
http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/viewer/viewer.asp?file=/cases/opinions/02CV21734d24.pdf

The Access Now case was based upon Title III of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. The basis for the dismissal was primarily that the
website is not a place of public accommodation as defined in the ADA.

I was particularly interested in this portion of the ruling about the
W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative and the WCAG Guidelines:
<snip>
Not only are these guidelines over three-years old, but there is no
indication that the Web Accessibility Initiative... is a generally
accepted authority on accessibility guidelines.
</snip>

Hmmm... if the W3C isn't a generally accepted authority, then who is?
...and because the standards are three-years old, they are no longer
viable? I guess this demonstrates the uphill battle we face.

Jared Smith
Project Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)


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