Yeah, theres an app for that but is it legal?
The National Federation of the Blind has filed complaints with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, saying Northwestern University and New York University should stop using Google Apps for Education because it is not sufficiently accessible to the blind.
Google Apps for Education is a suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications, such as Gmail and Google Talk. According to the NFB, the apps arent sufficiently compatible with the screen access technology that blind people use to convert what is on their computer screens to synthesized speech or Braille.
The complaints allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. For a video demonstration of the types of problems blind people encounter when trying to use Google Apps, click here.
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Not to be insensitive about those what are visually impaired, but most of us benefit from Google Apps. If we allow such an argument to blossom, we might as well go back to sending snail mails and paper based documents to accommodate everyone.
In progression, there really are some who will be left behind. But rather than destroy and idea, why not just find ways to support and revise it? Whoever came up with the idea that this violates the civil rights of some is just making an argument for argument’s sake.