A fairly competent article about the ADA in respect to cyberspace is written today over on NRO by James L. Gattuso. While I agree with his points with regard to commercial websites, I have to take exception to one of his points:
The Manhattan Institute’s Walter Olson warns, for instance, that web-design creativity and spontaneity could be stunted, as publishers feel constrained to use only officially accepted tools. Amateur websites would be winnowed as legal and technical rules limit the art to professionals. So much for “blogs.”
I kind of think he’s missed the point. I’m not bound by the ADA and neither is anyone else who runs a blog (unless maybe they run one on a pay site). If I charged money to read these pearls of whatever they are that I write, it might be a different matter. As it is, I have absolutely no responsibility to make my blog accessible to the blind, the deaf, or the mentally-impaired (although I am not 100% certain if Democrats fit that last mold or not — not that I care).
It would be nice if people would think before they write. (Full disclosure: I fit that mold myself sometimes.)