Enforcing ADA on the Web

It is important to know who will enforce ADA's accessibility standards on the Internet. Your friendly neighborhood regulator has not looked for this and will not under current exam guidelines. And the Department of Justice is not reviewing Web sites, but that does not mean accessibility issues should be delayed or denied. In many cases accessibility issues have not gotten the press they should have and these issues are not known or understood.

The National Federation for the Blind (NFB) began a lawsuit under the ADA for alleged online violations in November 1999. They were suing America Online (AOL) because their proprietary software was not compatible with software used by the blind. They settled in July 2000 and AOL is making every effort to provide equal access to the disabled.

In May 2000, the NFB sued several entities over ATM accessibility, including Diebold, one of the largest manufacturers of ATMs. That suit was settled in November 2000 with an agreement to modify the way ATMs operate for the sight impaired. Audible instructions will be necessary and technology today can make this possible.

After discussions with the California Council of the Blind, Bank of America agreed not only to install 2,500 "talking ATMs", but also to improve the accessibility of its Web site. This was in March 2000.

Copyright © 2001 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 6, No. 10, 9/01