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Test your Site for Accessibility with Cynthia Says ™
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AN OPEN LETTER ON ACCESSIBILITY FROM TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVES
The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton September 21, 2000 Dear Mr. President: As the CEOs of a number of America's leading high-tech companies, we strongly support your efforts to promote the accessibility of information and communications products and services for people with disabilities. We believe that there are two compelling reasons to do so. First, accessible information technology can be a powerful tool for expanding opportunity in the emerging information society. If our products and services are designed to be accessible, people with disabilities will find it easier to work, access a growing universe of electronic information and services, and lead more independent lives. If we fail to do this, people with disabilities could be further isolated from the mainstream of our economy and our society. Second, there are sound economic and commercial incentives to make our products more accessible. Globally, there are over 750 million people with disabilities, and there are 54 million in the United States alone. Making our products accessible will also make it easier for us to serve the rapidly growing population of seniors. Moreover, increasing the accessibility of our products can often improve their functionality for everyone, not just for people with disabilities. Designing products and services that can give customers a choice of input and output mechanisms will help people with disabilities, but it will also help the mobile professional trying to access the Web on a handheld wireless device. This issue requires private sector leadership. The federal government can help create the right policy environment, but it is ultimately companies that must design, develop and market accessible products and services. To make concrete progress on this issue, and to elevate its importance within our companies, all of us are committed to developing a corporate-wide policy on accessibility within the next six months. The specifics of our policies will vary because of the different markets that we serve, but all of us will seek to include the following private sector "best practices" as appropriate:
Sincerely,
John Warnock Stephen M. Case C. Michael Armstrong Duane Ackerman Michael D. Capellas Meg Whitman Leo J. Hindery, Jr. Carly S. Fiorina Rob Burgess Steve Ballmer Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs Scott A. McNealy Eric A. Benhamou A James C. Morgan Donna Dubinsky John Keane Peter Hering Amardeep Lamba Larry L. Petersen David Lane Mark Hill David Westin Hani MN Alaouie Scott A. Martin Paul Lippe Nick Grouf Brad Beckman Curt M. Vinson Lalit J. Chabria Marc Ostrofsky Lars Nyberg George F. Adam, Jr. Rick Dutta Tim O’Reilley Jimmy Edwards Bob Young Lucia Klebar LaWanda Armstrong Ariel Kleckner Sterling Ledet Gregory M. Avis Frank J. Ponzio, Jr. Paul Okoye Chukwudi William M. Nelson Arthur R. Rippey Kynn
Bartlett's New Book
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