accessibility
Okay so all day I have been thinking about how awful it is that our school doesn't make accessibility on its webpages, all of them, a bigger priority and then i started thinking... I stand by the fact that in order to get things changed someone has to complain. And i don't think it's because we are all lazy but because people don't always notice a problem before it is pointed out to them. I think that since this is a state school EVERYONE should have access to our website but think of all the other times in history where things weren't changed until someone complained, and then sued. Take sexual harassment in the workplace. It took women complaining and then suing for anything to happen. OR copyright infringment. People kept downloading music until someone (musicians) complained and then the record companies sued and now it is happening less. If you think about a woman being called "babe" by her boss you think.. eww.. or an artist working hard to produce something only for it to be stolen you think.. thats not right.. just like i think it's not right about the web accesibility here at western. NOW i am not saying we should sue the school, just that we shouldn't be surprised... things in society don't change unless there is a squeaky wheel... We have seen since I have been alive HUGE progress in things like handicap parking and accessible facilities in public (and some private) places because laws were passed that required them and if you violate them you can be fined.. or sued... and the internet isn't that old of a thing, and it is always changing... just in the last few years has it become an essential part of general society. You used to be able to get by without it, and I guess you still can, my grandpa does.. but for people in our generation it would be impossible to get hired most places if you couldn't work a computer and the internet.. plus you would just be a wierdo, and so now... like parking and bathrooms.. it is an essential part of life.. so we should allow time to adapt it to be more accessible.. but still nothing will be done if no one complains... and maybe sues.. and clearly something needs to be done... .on a different point have you seen how many handicap parking places there are at our walmart here in macomb.. i have never seen them all filled up at once.. or even half at once but i am thinking that maybe there is a law about like percentage of spots or something... okay.. see ya in class on friday
posted by nicoleh @ 12:17 PM
2 Comments:
I would love to see this call for action and specifics included in our group work. Right now WIU has done very little for web accessibility. A few sites are created with it in mind, but most aren't. Today I was talking to a prof with a blind student; he's made arrangments to email the student all the web pages and handouts. The student can feed those to his screen reader, instead of having to take the printout over to DSS.
But I suspect many students don't want to complain—do you want to risk annoying your teachers by telling them their web sites are not good enough?
Isn't it possible to complain to higher ups than teachers? I mean, this may be a stretch, but does Al Goldfarb realize how many students are alientated by the fact that most webpages aren't accessible? I doubt it. Would he care? I would think he would, but that's just my opinion. This may be unrealistic, but my guess is that most pages that aren't accessible are that way because someone just didn't think about it. So, even if you did talk to a teacher, there are tactful (or more tactful) ways to complain or *suggest* things that may not be seen as an attack on an individual.
Are you going to complain to someone, Nicole?
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