Kismet Arts Tangent

The Americans with Disablilities Act should not apply to web sites. The internet is like any other medium, though it is sometimes considered a public space, it is not. It is selective in its members. It is defined by the nature of visual, audio and text. It is allowed certain liberties because it is so interactive and popular amongst the middle-class and it is rising in necessity. The United States is very contradicting in its policies sometimes… You can rise up from your bootstraps, but not so high that you make the ruling elite feel uncomfortable. Equality for all, except the disable, they get a little extra. In the United States of lawsuits, anything that can be used to an advantage will often be used to such.

This particular digital divide reminds me of a story about a parent who had a gifted talented kid and an autistic kid. The autistic kid was given the power to sue had his needs not being met, which the gifted and talented kid never had so much one-on-one attention as its sibling. What kind of system are we to live in, if this kind of stuff is commonplace? Can’t discrimination be a good thing sometimes?

I do believe that if you are a web site you could, out of the kindness of your electronic heart, allow the same processes be carried out in the analog fashion in the case of disabilities, if that helps bridge the gap of ability for the person and the task, but sometimes web sites are very select. They have carved out a niche for their content and more often then not, it is not the disabled who is first on their audience list.

But, you say that the Internet is like a virtual life? All of the institutions that require public accomodation have counterparts  on the Internet?     The code reads: (7) Public accommodation. The following private entities are considered public accommodations for purposes of this subchapter, if the operations of such entities affect commmerce -…a motion picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium, or other place of exhibition or entertainment; (D) an auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or other place of public gathering; (E) a bakery, grocery store, hardware store, shopping center, or other sales or rental establishment; (F) bank, barber shop, beautyhop, travel service, station, office of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, professional office of a health care provider, hospital, or other service establishment;…” etc. It really depends on what’s different about you, as to why these sites don’t work for you, but the in-person establishments already cater to you, why is the Internet something that you need to be concerned with?

The Internet is not so new and yet completely different than the public space. This is paper, this is radio, this is everything before it. It is not a place where you can park in a special space and wheel up to the entrance and push a button and have it open up for you. All the functions require buttons, but by the same token, there are no special spaces, at least not yet. Media has always been selective. Various conditions impressed upon people by special circumstances have always and will continue to be issues. They don’t call it disabled for nothing! That’s harsh, but it’s real. It’s like being left-handed, for pete’s sake! There are more left handed people than there are “disabled” people using the internet, and there have been no catering (or none that I’m aware of) to that demographic. So, now what? If it’s you, it’s going to be everybody.

Another anecdote: On the capitol steps in Olympia, Washington State, there used to be emblems of religious holidays around the time of Christmas. Soon, other religions demanded their represention, and then one year an atheist wants in too… so, instead of allowing all, they allowed none. Sometimes the problem is in the freedom and equality; we forget what’s important.