I use the Internet almost daily, if only to post comments on this blog. But I would never presume that Web sites have a legal obligation to make it possible themselves accessible to me should I not be able to use them in the normal, "point and click" manner.
Well, that’s exactly what advocates for the blind expect from companies that maintain Web sites. And they’re going to court to enforce their demands.
The first company in their sights is retailer Target Corp. The National Federation for the Blind (NFB) has sued Target in federal court, alleging that the difficulty blind people have in using its Web site violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Incredibly, the Bush administration, the same one that promised "smaller government," is backing the NFB in this case. This is despite the fact that the ADA was enacted before the World Wide Web existed, and the concept of a "publicly accessible Web site" was mere science fiction.
From its inception, the ADA has been a litigation magnet. Some of the most outrageous results of this misguided law have been to insure that belligerent workers are protected from job discrimination and that disabled individuals seeking to participate in professional sports are provided sufficient accommodation in order to do so. Now, if the NFB has its way, Target and anyone else with a Web site will have to make it accessible to blind people. (Perhaps I’ll have to create a "talking blog.")
A better and more realistic way of dealing with disability is to recognize that disabled people, including the blind, represent a large market. If Target wants to provide blind people easy access, it can voluntarily upgrade its Web site (at an estimated cost of US$1 million). This investment may or may not pay off, but it would be a voluntary one, not made under the threat of litigation.
Bringing a lawsuit against Target in this situation is truly a case of "the blind leading the blind." And until Congress has the courage to rein in the ADA, outrageous lawsuits like this one will continue.
