Web: ACM Groups Urge Actions to Broaden Web Accessibility

ACM Groups Urge Actions to Broaden Web Accessibility
AScribe Newswire (01/16/08)
Several ACM Special Interest Groups, along with ACM's U.S. Public Policy Committee, have developed a joint statement to encourage equitable and inclusive Internet access for everyone, including people with disabilities. The groups say that while the Internet has become more critical for a variety of commercial and leisure activities, a majority of private and commercial Web sites have access limitations. The ACM groups have committed themselves to being leaders in the quest for improved access to the Internet and the Web, with the goal of increasing Internet access as a means to attract broader participation of talented people in the global economy. The ACM groups' statement urges increasing awareness of the value of accessibility, new federal policies to increase Web accessibility, continued federal R&D funding for more accessible IT systems, and additional low-cost Web development tools from the IT community. USACM and members of ACM's Special Interest Groups on Accessible Computing (SIGACCESS), Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), and Hypertext, Hypermedia and the Web (SIGWEB) signed the statement, along with the Computer Science Teachers Association, launched by ACM in 2005. "The technical community has the resources to make commercial Web sites accessible without undue regulatory and monetary burdens," says Harry Hochheiser, a member of the USACM Executive Committee and an assistant professor of computer and information sciences at Towson University.
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