For someone who’s blind though, using the iTunes Store or an iPod might not be quite so easy a feat. However, Apple is taking steps to fix that in iTunes and iTunes U. The Attorney General for Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, arranged a deal with Apple, Inc. to make iTunes more accessible for blind people who use accessibility software to help them (such as programs that read the screen’s contents out loud).
Universal Access features are a part of Leopard, and the new iPod nano features a “Spoken Menu” option, but this agreement should help close accessibility gaps in the iTunes Store too. Although online retailers are expected to provide accomodations for customers with disabilities, just like their physical counterparts, gaps still remain.
The deadline for making iTunes more accessible to screen readers is June 2009, and includes plans to improve the accessibility of iTunes U. (See, everyone complains when their professor tries to turn iTunes into schoolwork by posting stuff to the University section of the store, but no one thinks about what it would be like if you couldn’t get to that information for reasons beyond your control).
I like this tidbit: “Coakley said a lot of industries are working to make the Internet more accessible because they know it’s good business to give more people a way to buy your product.”
And here I thought making Internet-related items easier for everyone to access was just something one should do. You know, because it’s the right thing to do.
