Sue under the ada, no idea why in all of this hemming and hawing only Reddit is willing to put their money where their mouth is.
I get that reddit doesnt have a physical location, but it certainly facilitates access to public accommodations. Argue a new online-only definition of public accommodation. The world has certainly changed since Robles vs Domino's. Argue that all of the brand-representing subreddits are themselves accesses to public accommodations.
There's an old phrase that says "It's all over but the shoutin'." That's what this feels like.
We're not disabled, because we can't see like you can: we're disabled, because crunching developers, who don't have the necessary training and experience, for a week, predictably, caused regressions. If I don't test my code, people die. When you don't test your code, because you don't know how to, you make people disabled.
No, say it for what it is. You are disabled in your ability to navigate reddit because of fucked up corporate structure. Don't blame the developers who are ill prepared. Blame corporate. Blame leadership.
blame both. corporate leadership doesn't care about accessibility, so it's not funded, and it (probably) doesn't show up as an OKR. dev managers were almost certainly clueless about accessibility. but managers can learn, and if they care enough they can get accessibility into the budget. and devs can learn, and write their code to be accessible, and add a11y regression testing to their UATs.
They should not be negotiating with Reddit they should be migrating to Lenny or Kbin, some place where the blind can lead the blind.
On Mastodon there is talk of Black people running their own instances and maybe that it is a good idea, but the Blind very much have distinct needs in social media and could use a forum where they have complete control of the whole UI.
Building a UI and moderation tools geared to blind users would be good... but it isn't even on the roadmap now and getting it on the Lemmy roadmap is challenging. This has been brought up at https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/14dr797/comment/josy...
> Because for right now, Reddit is still far more accessible than either Lemmy or Kbin via web interface. Single simple keypress navigation for jumping around comments.
> On here every single image on this page is named “image” and every single list is named “list”. I am all for getting to the fediverse, but right now the experience for me is brutal.
> Let’s not cut off our nose to spite our face, the PEOPLE in the community are the important bit not the location, and if we switch off the place that works while we are midway through building a new place and bunch of people will be left beyind and disconnected and I don’t think that is what any of us want.
> The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to state and local governments (Title II) and businesses that are open to the public (Title III).
> Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all services, programs, and activities of state and local governments.
> Title III prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by businesses open to the public (also referred to as “public accommodations” under the ADA). The ADA requires that businesses open to the public provide full and equal enjoyment of their goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to people with disabilities.
> Examples of businesses open to the public:
Retail stores and other sales or retail establishments;
Banks;
Hotels, inns, and motels;
Hospitals and medical offices;
Food and drink establishments; and
Auditoriums, theaters, and sports arenas.
> Unless and until a formal policy becomes law, courts and regulators will likely continue to cite the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the standard for ADA compliance. Boyd’s letter does not specifically mention the WCAG but does state that “noncompliance with a voluntary technical standard for website accessibility does not necessarily indicate noncompliance with the ADA.” Boyd’s statements may affect how the courts rule on website accessibility, as court decisions have relied heavily on the WCAG standards (see Gil v. Winn-Dixie: Eleventh Circuit Vacates Opinion Due to Mootness, below).
> The ADA does not specifically identify websites as places of public accommodation, and the courts are split on whether the law limits the definition solely to physical spaces.
I get that reddit doesnt have a physical location, but it certainly facilitates access to public accommodations. Argue a new online-only definition of public accommodation. The world has certainly changed since Robles vs Domino's. Argue that all of the brand-representing subreddits are themselves accesses to public accommodations.
There's an old phrase that says "It's all over but the shoutin'." That's what this feels like.