Joe Clark’s lucid and thorough analysis of Flash accessibility is a good read, pulling in fresh refrences to non-web practices and his oh-so-clever metaphors. But I can’t help but feel that Flash has been singled out for bashing. Flash exhibits the same accessiblity problems as 99% of software: accessiblity is an afterthought rather than a requirement.
I’m guilty of this attitude, and you probably are too. The silent discrimination against the disabled is still endemic in our society. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act went a long way toward changing this, but couldn’t foresee the issues we’re dealing with today.
If we really believe the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are a good thing, then shouldn’t we assume they need to be followed 100% of the time (when disabled persons are part of our target audience)?
Excuse me while I go redesign some web sites…