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Re: Olympics 2002 site, accessibility issues, regulations?

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From: Carol Foster
Date: Jan 23, 2002 7:59AM

Hi Shirley and others,

I would guess that they come under the Americans with Disibilities Act (ADA) in
the U.S. at least. And my best guess at the "they" is MSN and MSNBC, who are
listed as the "Official Online Content Providers" (top right of the home
page). The ADA does not provide a specific definition of what Web
accessibility means, though, as you may know.

Carol

"Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns" wrote:

> Hi, everyone,
>
> I recently uncovered some big time accessibility problems at the new
> Olympics 2002 Salt Lake site <http://www.saltlake2002.com/>; I wrote about
> it here:
>
> Accessibility Lockout for Olympics 2002 Site -- Again?!
> <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8746539>;
>
> and a follow-up:
>
> Olympics 2002 Site, Continued
> <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8830508>;
>
> Andy King, WebReference.com, saw what I wrote and wrote even more about it
> here:
> <http://www.webreference.com/new/020117.html>;
>
> and wrote a follow-up today, too, in the WebReference newsletter (it's not
> online yet, though, as of my post). I've been in contact with Andy about
> this, too, and I know he feels just as strongly as I do about how nuts this
> is, as you can read for yourself.
>
> What I'm also curious about is what kind of regulations the Olympics site
> may or may not have in terms of creating an accessible site. I would have
> thought they'd be required to follow the WAI guidelines.... especially in
> light of their lawsuit from the Sydney2000 site. They did include alt tags
> with descriptions this time, though, which is what they were sued for NOT
> doing with the Sydney2000 site; however, they fall short in several other
> critical areas that results in visitors being completely blocked from the
> site. My articles above go into the details about this.
>
> Does anyone know if they are supposed to or required to follow any
> guidelines? I guess they wouldn't fall under any specific government's
> guidelines, such as the U.S. 508 guidelines or other specific country
> guidelines since they're not a government site. I've looked around the Web
> but haven't seen any specific official regulatory policy for the Olympics
> sites regarding accessibility.
>
> So what can be done about this besides spout off and try to create a bunch
> of publicity? It's ludicrous that such a major worldwide site like this
> isn't following accessibility guidelines.
>
> Warmly,
> Shirley
>
> --
> Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
> SKDesigns mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Website Design, Development http://www.skdesigns.com/
> Pianist, Composer http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
> Brainstorms and Raves http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/
>
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> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/

--
Carol Foster, Web Developer
Internet Publishing Group, Information Technology Services
University of Massachusetts, President's Office
(413) 587-2130
mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.umass-its.net/ipg
--




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