Inside the Little Plastic Castle

Connor Gardner CatchTheseWords is a blind disability rights advocate. His recent post Do Automated Solutions like #AccessiBe Make the Web More Accessible? alerted me to an ongoing debate: do "AI-based" automatic site plugins actually provide useful access for screen reader users?

There are scores of one-step automatic accessibility plugins designed for CMSes like WordPress or SquareSpace — some free, some very expensive.

Connor Gardner is dubious. He points to Adrian Roselli -- a very experienced web dev who’s focused on accessible design since 1998. Roselli’s article accessiBe will get you sued is dubious in much greater detail.

The plugin developer in question, accessBe, asks critics to take a step back and see if "manual" solutions are even possible at this point.

https://accessibe.com/blog/trends/industry-wake-up-call-the-future-of-web-accessibility

We must acknowledge: web accessibility is a two-way street between business owners and people with disabilities.

Have we stopped for a second to consider business owners’ needs? Their wants? Their day-to-day operations? Their vendors? Their projects? Their expenses? Their priorities? Their challenges? If we want to achieve an accessible Internet we must consider what business owners are willing to do, what’s realistic for them, and what they actually need. Business owner’s nature is to care mostly about their revenue, their employees, and providing for their families. This is the nature of humans and humans run businesses.

They frame access as too expensive and too complicated: designers haven't got it right yet, so let's sell them a one-size-fits-all kit and call it done.

I’m still dubious.

ADA design guidelines are now part of US building codes -- building inspectors have become the ADA police when it comes to the built environment.

I wish the web had building codes.

ETA: updated Gardner's name and pronouns.