[wp-docs] Accessibility page on Codex (esmi at quirm dot net)

[James]

Many thanks, esmi. Maybe I was tripped up by the word "comply". Ethical
reasons aside (which I agree with), I wasn't aware of a *requirement* to
comply with any accessbility regulations.

By the way, I'd make one addition to what you said about Section 508: it's
not simply the "public-facing side of (federal?) sites"--it's much more,
and encompasses hardware and software. It also applies to technology that
the feds *buy or use*. So, my experience has been that "compliance" comes
into play when you're trying to sell something to the government. Not sure
about the UK environment.

Cheers,
-james


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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:02:34 +0000
From: esmi at quirm dot net <esmi at quirm.net>
Subject: Re: [wp-docs] Accessibility page on Codex (James GIll)
To: wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
Message-ID: <50AA3BFA.4070605 at quirm.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

on 17/11/2012 03:48 James said the following:
> Lorelle, I'm an advocate of accessible sites and explaining things like
> Section 508 (and have been since there was a WWW), but--I'm unclear about
> how WordPress is required to "comply" with US accessibility laws or laws
> of other countries. Also, I'm not clear how WordPress currently prevents
> building accessible sites for those aiming to create them. Can you explain
> that a bit, or point me towards more information?

WordPress itself would come under the general heading of "CMS/Software
Requirements" within the anti-discrimination laws of any given country.
Certainly in the UK, it would fall under the Disability Discrimination
Act if it did not make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled
users are not unfairly disadvantaged when it came to using the software.
Many other countries in Europe have similar - if not more stringent -
legal requirements. I'd imagine ADA would apply in the US.

Legality aside, there are the ethical responsibilities to ensure that
disabled users can create sites as easily as possible. And there are
quite a few disabled users who use WordPress as their CMS of choice -
primarily because it already offers a reasonable level of accessibility.
But that doesn't mean it can't be improved. We also need to teach people
how to get the best of the features that it offers. :-)

AFAIIA, Section 508 only applies to the public-facing side of (federal?)
sites. So the onus is really on the site owner but, again, I think we
have an ethical duty to help people create the most accessible sites
that they can.

HTH

esmi
-- 
http://quirm.net
http://blackwidows.co.uk


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