TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:While the Internet has opened up tremendous possibilities for communication and convenience for those with sight, hearing or mobility impairments, it can also be very frustrating for them if Web sites are not accessible, says Cynthia Waddell, executive director of the nonprofit International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. "People have been stripping accessibility out without realizing what they're doing," she says.

However, the awareness that Web sites must be accessible, for both legal and practical reasons, is likely to grow over the next several years. One reason is a class action against Target currently working its way through the California courts that was filed in 2006 in Alameda County by the National Federation of the Blind. It alleges that Target failed and refused to make its Web site accessible to the blind, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as two California civil rights statutes that concern disabled persons. This fall a federal district court judge certified the case for class-action status and ruled that California law requires Target.com to be accessible for the disabled...

Quote:We are often asked about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is a reasonably strong argument, supported by court decisions, that a stand-alone business operating as a website with no physical presence may not be covered by the ADA. But without prolonged litigation we will not know for sure, and there is contradictory law on the point. Absent court decisions deciding whether states can enforce state disability laws, it may be that you will have to accommodate the disabled even if the ADA does not require it. If your website is a robust ecommerce site taking payments and selling goods, and you market or sell to residents within a particular state, you probably have to comply with that state’s laws...