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| Thread ID: 84683 | 2007-11-14 22:37:00 | HR complaint about web sites for blind people?? | Shortcircuit (1666) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 611616 | 2007-11-14 22:37:00 | I just read this at NZCity and I'm a bit speechless . . . firstly that the guy would be 'outraged' he couldn't use the airline web site because of his disability and secondly that he would lay a complaint with the Human Rights Commission . . nzcity . co . nz/news/article . aspx?id=78679&fm=psp,nwl" target="_blank">home . nzcity . co . nz quote: "The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind says it is working all the time to help improve website accessibility for people with sight disabilities . The comments come after a human rights complaint made by Christchurch businessman . . . was outraged he could not book a Pacific Blue flight through the carrier's website, because he is blind . " I understand the difficulties faced by blind people, but if I'm not mistaken the internet is primarily a visual medium . I'm all for helping people with disabilities have 'equal access' to things in our modern society, but should web designers/owners be required to do things at their end for that small minority just because a blind person jumps up and down, gets 'outraged' and complains that it's his right as a disabled person to get preferential treatment? Really, the guy could have picked up the phone- dialed a number and dealt with a real person at the airline without all the drama . For those of you out there who are web designers . . . Would you change a web site at the request or demand of a blind/disabled person to make it more 'user friendly', even if it may affect the usability for non-disabled people? |
Shortcircuit (1666) | ||
| 611617 | 2007-11-14 22:43:00 | Darwin's theory clearly doesn't apply in modern human civilisation. SC; I completely agree with you. I too support in any way I can for disabled people, but this one just takes the cake. |
qazwsxokmijn (102) | ||
| 611618 | 2007-11-14 22:45:00 | I just read this at NZCity and I'm a bit speechless . . . firstly that the guy would be 'outraged' he couldn't use the airline web site because of his disability and secondly that he would lay a complaint with the Human Rights Commission . . nzcity . co . nz/news/article . aspx?id=78679&fm=psp,nwl" target="_blank">home . nzcity . co . nz quote: "The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind says it is working all the time to help improve website accessibility for people with sight disabilities . The comments come after a human rights complaint made by Christchurch businessman . . . was outraged he could not book a Pacific Blue flight through the carrier's website, because he is blind . " I understand the difficulties faced by blind people, but if I'm not mistaken the internet is primarily a visual medium . I'm all for helping people with disabilities have 'equal access' to things in our modern society, but should web designers/owners be required to do things at their end for that small minority just because a blind person jumps up and down, gets 'outraged' and complains that it's his right as a disabled person to get preferential treatment? Really, the guy could have picked up the phone- dialed a number and dealt with a real person at the airline without all the drama . For those of you out there who are web designers . . . Would you change a web site at the request or demand of a blind/disabled person to make it more 'user friendly', even if it may affect the usability for non-disabled people? We are becpming more and more like the USA every day with these frivolous complaints and lawsuits . I would say almost all websites are not viewable by blind people . If you have opera browser, you can however get the browser to 'speak' the contents of the website . The person has chosen a very rich company to complain about, so it gets media attention, but really the compliant has no substance, as the internet is a visual medium . Its about as silly as complaining to the government for not providing roads for cars for blind people . |
robbyp (2751) | ||
| 611619 | 2007-11-14 22:50:00 | We are becpming more and more like the USA every day with these frivolous complaints and lawsuits. I would say almost all websites are not viewable by blind people. If you have opera browser, you can however get the browser to 'speak' the contents of the website. The person has chosen a very rich company to complain about, so it gets media attention, but really the compliant has no substance, as the internet is a visual medium. Its about as silly as complaining to the government for not providing roads for cars for blind people.Of course, mentioning this as a shortfall will get someone going. :groan: Can you imagine - the white canes attached to each corner of the vehicle!! :eek: | johcar (6283) | ||
| 611620 | 2007-11-14 23:51:00 | I listened to the guy on the radio explain his plight. He has a computer which can verbalise web pages so he can surf the web. His complaint is valid. He went through the booking procedure on the website and at the end, was asked about any disabilities he had. Only at that point was he informed that he could not make a web booking and he would have to phone the airline to make the booking. What difference does it make whether he is blind or not in order to make a booking on the web? The airline must cater for the guidedogs and extra space needed for people with some disabilities but surely this could be accommodated in the web booking system, subject to space available? This was his gripe, not the fact that the blind cannot comprehend a website (they can with the right software). SC, you are the victim of the media not telling the whole story, just the bits which they think are interesting to the public or will cause public outrage (just look at the coverage of the terrorist story - which side have they given most coverage to?). |
user (1404) | ||
| 611621 | 2007-11-15 00:05:00 | I listened to the guy on the radio explain his plight. He has a computer which can verbalise web pages so he can surf the web. His complaint is valid. He went through the booking procedure on the website and at the end, was asked about any disabilities he had. Only at that point was he informed that he could not make a web booking and he would have to phone the airline to make the booking. What difference does it make whether he is blind or not in order to make a booking on the web? The airline must cater for the guidedogs and extra space needed for people with some disabilities but surely this could be accommodated in the web booking system, subject to space available? This was his gripe, not the fact that the blind cannot comprehend a website (they can with the right software). SC, you are the victim of the media not telling the whole story, just the bits which they think are interesting to the public or will cause public outrage (just look at the coverage of the terrorist story - which side have they given most coverage to?). Well- that sounds plausible. What you are saying is that the web site was accessible to the person and quite usable until he told them he was disabled/blind... another story altogether. The story (from this victim's perspective at least) suggested that the the issue was with web sites being accessible to blind/disabled- not 'certain aspects' of the booking process. It may be 'creative journalism' but it also smells of a selective rendition by the Blind Foundation. Thanks for expanding it towards the truth though user... I'm always willing to be taken for a wally and pointed towards the light :D |
Shortcircuit (1666) | ||
| 611622 | 2007-11-15 00:49:00 | The Blind Foundation appeared to be commenting on websites in general not this specific case. Pacific Blue will still give the Internet Price (when you find the number to call). | PaulD (232) | ||
| 611623 | 2007-11-15 00:57:00 | The Government does provide roads for blind drivers. At least, many drivers behave as if they are blind.:( The US Government requires all its departments to make their web sites accessible for disabled usrs (including blind ones). It can be done. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 611624 | 2007-11-15 01:05:00 | Everyone is always getting outraged at some thing the news reports. No-one checks the facts themselves first or waits until all the facts are mentioned somewhere. This is another example. I thought every IT person knew blind people used software that read the screens to them. They guy should have just answered no to the disability question, maybe it would have happily let him continue. Look at the outrage over the cops in the maori terrorist story, then suddenly everyone backtracks. People should stop getting excited over news reports that don't tell you everything. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 611625 | 2007-11-15 01:07:00 | I listened to the guy on the radio explain his plight. He has a computer which can verbalise web pages so he can surf the web. His complaint is valid. He went through the booking procedure on the website and at the end, was asked about any disabilities he had. Only at that point was he informed that he could not make a web booking and he would have to phone the airline to make the booking. What difference does it make whether he is blind or not in order to make a booking on the web?If the airline uses something like captcha to prevent automated bookings, it makes a huge difference. A blind person can't see a captcha to validate his/her input, and therefore can't submit the application for an entirely acceptable reason. Also, many TTS browsers can't accurately speak AJAX-based pages - which these days is a significant portion of major sites. | Erayd (23) | ||
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