The American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) may have opened the doors a bit wider for those with disabilities creating opportunity and access by leveling the playing field. But with computer software making processes seamless and efficient for businesses the inaccessibility to operate the software keeps the blind from accessing the same opportunities given to those without disabilities
While travel for the blind may impress those ignorant to the abilities of the blind, more and more blind are using the public transportation systems every day. Getting to and from the work place is not a barrier as it may once have been; it is inside the workplace where navigating the programs and systems on the computer that keeps the blind from accessing the opportunities and could it be one of the biggest barriers facing the blind’s marketability in today’s workplace?
In 1998,) An amendment to the Rehabilitation Act, referred to as Section 508 requires that when federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology, federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.
It has been 14 years since the enactment of Section 508 and the hopes for new opportunities for the blind in the workplace. Are we still waiting or do you feel enough has been done to create opportunities and to initiate other entities to make accessibility a priority?
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