Karl Auerbach

2019-01-24 16:49:04

I have a lot of sympathy for this plaintiff - I rant and rave about computerized systems and websites that are designed for people in their 20's who have perfect vision. But I also operate various websites and can attest that it can be very difficult and expensive for a business to deploy a website that can be used by people with an advanced state of impaired vision. (I wrestled with these issues with regard to voting machines - but that's a more limited context. And once upon a time I learned to read Braille - a skill I have since lost.)

I generally go through my websites to do simple things - like bump up the font size and make text solid black on pure white. I abhor the current era style of thin fonts presented in small, translucent grey text on a slightly less dark background - it's all the rage out there in web-designer land. It is a style that should be stomped out of existence, but it seems to be the norm for companies like Google.

And anyone who has ever used the weak "assistive technologies" of Apple and others will quickly confirm that flipping the color map so that blacks become whites, and vice versa - which also flips the color of icons and photos - is far from adequate.

But doing more is hard for small companies and sole proprietors. The article and legal case below suggest that it is time to get worried....

Ninth Circuit Weighs in On Website Accessibility Obligations