Access to the World Wide Web

by Christopher W. White, Esq., Deputy Director, Community Legal Aid Society, Inc.

The World Wide Web has drastically changed our society in a very short time. For most people, the Web has opened up a new world of information and communication beyond the realm of imagination. In many ways, this information medium has displaced traditional information resources for news, education, employment, business, and entertainment. Unfortunately, it is not available to everyone. Millions of people with disabilities do not have access to this valuable resource because of barriers that could be removed with very little effort and expense. While government and the World Wide Web Consortium have taken steps to remove these barriers, the progress is slow and access continues to elude many potential users.

Access for People with Visual Disabilities

The most obvious barriers exist for people with visual disabilities. People with visual disabilities rely on screen readers or talking web browsers to surf the web. These programs read the website's HTML code to the user; however, these browsers cannot interpret certain types of web content. For example, most web pages contain images which are integral to the information conveyed by the page. If the web page author did not include a descriptive image tag that can be read by the screen reader, the information is lost to the user. For instance, if a company logo is on the page as an image rather than as text, the user might hear the screen reader say "Welcome to the homepage of 'image' " rather than "Welcome to the homepage of the Acme Widget Company."

Similar problems occur with java and javascript language, both of which site developers use to make spinning signs and fancy banners. A screen reader encountering this script in the page emits sounds that could come from an alien world. Unlabeled graphics, undescribed streaming video, lack of keyboard support, and information presented in inaccessible PDF (portable document format) files also present problems for people with visual disabilities.

Other Barriers

People with hearing disabilities often cannot access uncaptioned audio and video. People with physical disabilities are often hampered by lack of keyboard or single-switch support for menu commands. People with cognitive or neurological disabilities are obstructed by websites with overly complex presentations and a lack of consistent navigation structure. Flickering or strobing designs on webpages also present barriers to effective communication.

Addressing the Problems

The World Wide Web Consortium, the international consortium that promotes evolution and interoperability of the Web, created the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to address these barriers. The Consortium maintains that in order for the Web to reach its full potential it must promote a high degree of usability for people with disabilities.

The efforts of WAI to address web technology have been quite successful. WAI helped to develop accessibility features for HTML 4.0, the basic programming code for the World Wide Web. In addition, WAI developed accessibility features for Cascading Style Sheets, Synchronized Multimedia and MathML. Advances in accessibility features and the increased utilization of Cascading Style Sheets will significantly improve access by removing barriers presented by frames and obsolete HTML style codes which frequently hinder screen readers.

WAI developed accessibility guidelines for the World Wide Web as well. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, developed by WAI, outlines accessibility principles and design ideas for web content developers and developers of web authoring tools. Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 assists developers in designing website authoring tools including WYSIWIG ("what you see is what you get") editors such as Microsoft FrontPage, conversion tools and image editors. User Agent Guidelines 1.0 provides guidelines for the development of web browsers and other types of software that retrieve web content.

What do the Laws Require?

At this time, the adoption of guidelines developed by WAI is voluntary for most web programmers; however, this is gradually changing. Governments around the world are beginning to require compliance with WAI guidelines in varying degrees. The United States requires that, when federal agencies develop, procure, maintain or use electronic and information technology, such technology must be accessible to Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities. These requirements are imposed by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and apply to all Federal websites (see related article on Page One).

In addition, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered entities to provide effective communications to people with disabilities when they use the internet. A 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Policy Ruling found that Titles II and III of the ADA impose this requirement upon State and local governments and the business sector. The effective communication rule applies to communications regarding programs, goods or services being offered by the covered entities.

Settlement Letters from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights expand upon the definition of "effective communication." The Letters state that "the issue is not whether the student with the disability is merely provided with access, but the issue is rather the extent to which the communication is actually as effective as that provided to others." (Pages 1-2, Docket Number 09-95-2206, 28 CFR 35.160(a)).

Other Benefits of Accessibility

Providing greater access to the World Wide Web makes sense in many ways. Outside of the disabilities arena, websites with greater accessibility have faster downloading times. This access facilitates transmission of web-based data to wireless technology such as cell phones and personal digital assistants.

But clearly, the most compelling economic reason for web developers to facilitate greater accessibility is the increased viewership they will achieve as a direct result. The additional costs of accessibility are estimated at one to two percent of the development costs. The additional viewership as a result of the accessibility is estimated at twenty percent.

Although significant efforts are being made to improve accessibility to the World Wide Web for people with disabilities, there is a long way to go. The work of the World Wide Web Consortium through the Web Accessibility Initiative has impacted accessibility to the Web. In the end, we can hope that ethical principles will encourage web developers to increase Web accessibility but it may be economic self-interest that finally carries the day and fully opens the world of the internet for people with disabilities.