There's help online for adapting Web sites for Disabled
Power User by John McCormick
From: Government Computer News - July 24, 2000 - page 32-33.

Back when the Internet was text-based, it was a wonderful tool for disabled
users. When it won general popularity, it also became primarily a Web
resource. But few Web pages are truly accessible to those with multiple
impairments who need universal information access the most. 

Efforts are under way to make Web pages more accessible, but people without
disabilities have a difficult time understanding the problems a Web page
might pose to disabled users. How many people who aren’t in wheelchairs
understand the importance of curb cuts? 

Several sites offer online help. The Employment Equity Positive Measures
Program Directorate of the Canadian Public Service Commission, at
http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/eepmp-pmpee/access/welcome1.htm, has devised
several tests for evaluating a Web site’s general accessibility. 

Detailed sets of questions on the site show you how to score accessibility
for users with visual, cognitive, motor skill, learning and other
disabilities. 

Site design flaws will pop out once you see the questions. For example, you
score a zero if your various site pages have different layouts. To get a top
score, they must exhibit consistent design. 

A choice, please 

Use of frames rates a zero, but offering an optional nonframe version gets a
high score. 

For other useful downloadable tools, check out the National Institute of
Standards and Technology site, at http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/webmet. 

The World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative tool list at
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html#Evaluation is extensive. You’ll
find links to repair, evaluate and filter tools for Web sites. 

Section 508 of the the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments is driving
the current scramble to make government Web sites accessible, but courts may
take a dim view of agency claims that they don’t have time to comply with 508
when they should have been working on better access ever since the act passed
in 1990.  

In 1993 I wrote a book about making offices accessible to the disabled, and
GCN cosponsored it. Although Computers and the Americans with Disabilities
Act: A Manager’s Guide is nearly a decade old, much of the information is
still current, mostly because there has been little progress in educating
employers and placing the disabled in jobs. 

For example, telecommuting would be perfect for many disabled users, but not
even the employers with large Web presences seem to offer telecommuting jobs.  

The least the government can do for disabled citizens is to make certain
that, as more information moves from the file cabinet to the Web, they are
not denied an opportunity to participate. 

John McCormick, a free-lance writer and computer consultant, has been working
with computers since the early 1960s. E-mail him at poweruser@mail.usa.com.