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JULY 25, 2003
By Suzanne Robitaille The ADA's Next Step: Cyberspace [Page 2 of 2] MUDDLED MEASURE. PC maker Dell (DELL ) says its online presence accounted for 50% of its $31.2 billion in revenues last year. At FleetBoston Financial (FBF ), online banking is its fastest-growing business. Fleet is relaunching its Web site this summer with a new user interface, and it has hired blind and visually impaired people to test the site using screen readers and keyboard-only commands. The results? "We smoothed out all the bumps to make it fully accessible," says Neal Wolfson, director of Fleet's interactive banking group. IBM (IBM ) calls Web accessibility a great marketing tool. It sold that concept to Sprint PCS (PCS ), the wireless-phone maker, which has made its Web site easier to use for the visually impaired, deaf, and hard-of-hearing. "What we're finding are different motivators. Companies aren't required by law, but this is a great way to market and to appeal to the community," says Cindy Drummond, director of IBM's Accessibility Solution Center. While it's a huge advance, the ADA isn't perfect. One flaw: It's ambiguously written. Title III is the section that forbids discrimination in public places and places where commerce is affected. This includes restaurants, banks, hospitals, movie theaters, museums, and schools -- but not cyberspace. Mucking things up further is a separate, unrelated federal workplace law called Section 508 that requires the U.S. government and its agencies to make their Web sites accessible. Adopted in 1998, Section 508 has helped to create the perception that the private sector needs to make the same accommodations under the ADA. CAN'T SURF? NO DISCOUNT. An unclear law often leads to lawsuits but also to groundbreaking and constructive settlements. The NFB sued America Online unit of AOL Time Warner (AOL ) in 1999, saying the Interet service's proprietary software interfered with the ability of blind people using a screen reader to access the AOL system. The NFB withdrew its lawsuit in 2000 after AOL said it would develop an accessibility policy and make its newer software (version 6.0 and higher) compatible with screen readers. In another high-profile case, a disability group and a Southwest Airline (LUV ) customer, who is blind, sued the airline for refusing to sell him a Web-fare special over the phone because the site wasn't accessible with his screen reader. A U.S. District Court judge in Florida threw out the case, saying nothing in the ADA includes the Internet. However, the WC3 filed a brief saying its guidelines allow for an acceptable standard to be developed for companies. The case is now on appeal. Meanwhile, Southwest says it's exploring possibilities to make its site more user-friendly. Sensitivity and common sense go a long way when it comes to disabilities law. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY? The National Council on Disability has issued a report, recommending that the ADA be amended to cover the private-sector Net. "If the Internet is excluded from coverage under Title III because it isn't a physical location, or if Internet-only commerce is excluded from coverage for lack of a nexus, then under what logic can telephone, postal, or any other form of non-face-to-face interaction or commerce be covered?" the report asks. Good question. Web accessibility must go beyond content and be extended to operating systems, hardware, and info-tech training. Microsoft (MSFT ), IBM, and Macromedia (MACR ) are all to be applauded for creating products to support Web accessibility. Disability advocates know it'll take more time to create comprehensive guidelines. Some groups, like the W3C, would like the U.S. to have a national policy for the Net, similar to policies in Britain and Australia. However, after advocates pause to celebrate the ADA's anniversary, they should then hit the refresh button -- and get ready for the work that still must be done.
 Robitaille is a reporter for BusinessWeek Online in New York She's also hearing impaired Edited by Douglas Harbrecht Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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