Techshare India, Showcased the Need for Web Accessibility World-Wide

Techshare India 2014 took place this past February in New Delhi, and held at the India Habitat Center. This was the fourth time this event was held, there were over 25 exhibitors, highlighting a variety of modern day technology services and products. Techshare has been described as the largest technology event that focuses on promoting web accessibility for people with impairments.

Three themes were focused on throughout Techshare Indi; innovate, adapt, and evolve. The themes were incorporated into the functions four verticals; education, employment, accessibility, and policies/ laws. There were 2,000 plus attendees at the event with greater than 50 speakers from around the world that presented on concerns pertaining to accessibility. Highlights from the event included key speeches from Ted Drake from Intuit, Kiran Kaja with Adobe, and J. Alan Chicken of W3C.

Research done by Gartner Global Advisory Firm suggests as much as 15 percent of the world’s population has disabilities. The range of disabilities and number of individuals with impairments is predicted to greatly increase in the near future, mainly due to the raise of the aging populace worldwide. With the growing disabled population, more events like Techshare are needed to increase awareness of web accessibility and support the culture of inclusion.

Techshare India 2014 represented the importance and need for improvements in web accessibility globally as well as India. The host site for Techshare indicates that it is now time for all areas including, but not limited to the government, corporate, educational facilities, and nonprofit organizations to contemplate the ways to meet the needs of all individuals with impairments and society, “needs to evolve to generate an inclusive surrounding.”

Disney Web Accessibility Lawsuit Teaches a Lesson

Early in 2013, an agreement was reached in the accessibility lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks. The lawsuit, Shields vs. Walt Disney Parks, asserted that Disney did not adjust to California and Federal legal guidelines and discriminating against seeing impaired individuals by denying adequate admission to theme parks and the Disney website. The result of the issue demanded in a lengthy list of improvements and payouts that Walt Disney must comply with in a one years time. Today, the one-year mark is quickly approaching and soon Walt Disney’s accessibility will be evaluated. Yet, the bigger question and lesson learned in this case is understanding the weight and significance of having an accessible website. Every website should now assess if their site is accessible, failing to do will eventually lead to legal problems. This article highlights the lawsuit and aims to shed light on the vital importance of web accessibility.

In 2010, a trio of blind patrons filed a lawsuit against beloved theme park, declaring the web site was not accessible to them and did not comply with the American with Disabilities Act. The website problems were surrounding the auto play of the audio and video clips. The media clips made it difficult for those using a keyboard to browse the site and made it incompatible with assistive devices, mainly screen readers. The online resources also utilized Flash content material and did not provide alt text for images, further complicated the website for blind users.

Alongside the web accessibility charges, came problems with the actual physical park. Statements were made that the theme park did not offer reasonable modifications for individuals with impairments; such as refusing to allow the use of guide dogs, supplying audio assistance, and inability to supply schedules, menus, maps, etc. in Braille. The blind visitors argued that Disney and their websites do give adequate attention to the needs of individuals with visual impairments. Disney denied the accusations and further stated the corporation does not owe individuals with impairments anything, claiming issues around blind visitors should be looked at on a situational basis.

The suit continued for multiple years and confronted several due processes, until an agreement was settled on in 2013. A decision was made to separate the suit into four subclasses infrastructure, service animals, communication and website. Each of these national subclasses included an extensive amount of improvements that Disney is obligated to comply to within one year.

Walt Disney Parks will likely stick to the deadline and make the appropriate improvements to their websites and theme park locations to accommodate visually impaired consumers and avoid further legal problems. The aim and lesson in this situation, is that every corporation, organization and company should be asking, “Can everyone access our website?” The Walt Disney web accessibility lawsuit sets an example of the growing number of lawsuits against websites. Web pages ought to be accessible to all clients; failure to place accessibility standards can result in a serious lawsuit.