Closing the Disability Tech-Gap

The blind should have their iPods, too. In a recent agreement reached between Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Apple Inc., iTunes will be programmed by June 2009 for accessibility to anyone with blind-user software to read the Internet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_hi_te/tec_itunes_blind

According to the 9/26/08 Associated Press article, Massachusetts teenager Cory Cadlik had an iPod, but he couldn't use it without asking for help. As "a self-described tech 'geek,' that was too frustrating (for him) to tolerate," the article says. Cadlik just happens to be blind.

"'For me to be as tech savvy as I am, and not be able to do something ... I hated it,' said Cadlik." So Cadlik returned his iPod. But now, with the recent state agreement with Apple, Cadlik wants his iPod back.

But beyond issues of equal access to areas of entertainment through technology, the AP piece also noted a critical point made by John Olivera of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. That is, how the commission "approached Apple primarily because of the increasing popularity of iTunes U, which provides lectures and other educational content from colleges and universities. Schools were posting class material there, and that created problems for blind students." The implication being that discrimination in areas of public education is illegal.

The article also looks at other areas of technology discrimination that have gained national attention: online retail. "Providing equal access to online stores is required in the same way supermarket aisles must be a certain width to accommodate people with disabilities. But major gaps remain in the online retail world for blind consumers."

The retail store Target is cited in the piece as an example of a class-action lawsuit -- which was filed by the National Federation of the Blind -- for online store discrimination. In Target's case, its website was not designed to accommodate use by those who are blind. According to the article, "Target Corp. agreed to pay $6 million in damages to plaintiffs in California who were unable to use its Web site as part of (the) class action settlement."

These developments speak not only to legal corrections in areas of technological discrimination that affect the physically disabled, but to the fundamental imperative of companies in a competitive market to reach out to as many potential customers as possible. This broadens company market share and brand appeal. In a larger sense, then, it is also a creative challenge for hardware and software developers to automatically consider the needs of the physically disabled, as part and parcel of the design-through-marketing process. This is not only the right and fair thing to do, it's smart business. (And avoids costly, publicity-negative lawsuits.)

- Misako M.