Blind Customer Sues Target.com for Inaccessibility

[notoriousformula]

The California Association of Blind Students set its sights on Target.com as part of the first salvo against websites that do not support software capable of interpreting text on the screen for blind readers. The lawsuit claims "Target thus excludes the blind from full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of daily life."

Blind Advocacy groups believe the lawsuit against Target is valid on the premise that eCommerce websites must uphold the same disability standards as the brick and mortar counterparts. When websites use image maps and lack alt-text for images on the site, reader software developed for blind people stops functioning correctly. Federal laws governing disabled patron access to eCommerce websites do not exist in the US yet.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/09/BAGQHH5H7D1.DTL&www.dailytech.com

[Player0]

Huh. I have no opinion on this.

I dont think it will equate to any new laws regarding websites HAVING to conform to some sort of disability standard. But it might raise awareness for larger developers.

Plus, websites are getting better at this sort of thing, offering more textual only content for things like cellphones, etc. Plus following more web standards means having alt tags (people still using imagemaps should be shot), etc.

[Nut]

Whats next? Are they going to sue the DMV because they won't let their guide dogs drive?

[Synthohol]

sue the government, us currency does not have braille.
and after they win that one which they wont then worry about any .coms, geez.

[WackyComputer]

Blind man has trouble hitting target.

[DAVE185]

I'm all for them being able to use there website but sueing is a little hasty

if the judge rules on the side of target he will look like an extremely huge :mad2::mad2::mad2: thats probally why they figure they can win

If I was target I would just make a deal so they would shut up

[Yanic18]

Back in High School I took a class to a class on ecommerce, I was specifcally told to make sites that were blind user friendly as it was web standard. If I remember correctly the books we used that stated this were several years old, so its not a new concept that sites should be blind user friendly.