[html4all] Accessible to whom (or to which groups) ?

[Laura Carlson]

Everyone who uses the web is likely have had universality issues and
experienced obstacles from time to time.

However, as Gez, Catherine, and Josh mentioned, disabled people must
frequently overcome additional obstacles before they can enjoy the
full range of information, services, entertainment and social
interaction offered by the Web: blind people need sites to provide,
for example, text as an alternative to images for translation into
audible or legible words by specially designed screenreading devices;
partially sighted people may be especially reliant upon large-format
text and effective color contrast; and people with manual dexterity
impairments may need to navigate with a keyboard rather than with a
mouse. The disabled can't change these needs. Something to keep in
mind is that to people who are disabled, accessibility means web page
information/content being obtainable and functional. It is not added
value. It is basic.

Nevertheless, accessibility and universality and are not enemies. They
could, and should, be best friends. Universality and accessibility
have different though not incompatible design philosophies and goals.
They may use different but usually compatible methods. Their
practitioners share concerns for improving the user experience, though
they may have different sets of users in mind.

Phil mentioned that for accessibility to be successful, people who are
not disabled may need to see that accessibility is for them. The
"designing for accessibility is good design practice" is in fact a
good selling point. It emphasizes the importance of considering users'
access capabilities as a part of user-focused design. It is indeed an
auxiliary benefit [1] when trying to convince people of the importance
of accessibility. Accessible design is good design for everyone.

Focusing on the possibility of conflicts between accessibility and
universality is a red herring. The real challenge in is not deciding
which should trump the other, but in understanding requirements and
finding a way for the next generation of HTML to meet needs. People
need to collaborate. We each have  knowledge and skills that will
benefit each other. This is something filled with challenges. It's
something that intelligent and reasonable people can disagree about.
Though I think we actually agree more than disagree. There's more than
one right way to do something. And sometimes there are no clear cut
answers. Although some answers are usually be better than others. :-)

With some creative and flexible thinking maybe...just maybe...we can
help improve the next generation of HTML for people with disabilities
right along with universality for all users. Let's give it out best.

Best Regards,
Laura
[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html#marketshare