Canadian disability service providers appalled at government appeal

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Thursday, 20 January 2011 13:57pm

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) have come out with strong statements against the Canadian government’s appeal of a court ruling that federal government websites are to be made accessible to sensory impaired users by 2012.

John Rafferty, President and CEO of CNIB, said, “The fact that it took a court case to plead for full web accessibility in the first place is bad enough, but to learn that the government plans to spend more time and taxpayer money fighting the court’s ruling is just appalling.”

Robin East, President of the nationwide Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, echoed these sentiments, saying, “we are outraged by the government’s decision to appeal this landmark decision”.

Both have suggested that the money and effort that the government will need to invest in this appeal could be better spent on simply getting on with the job of making government information accessible to people with a sensory impairment.

For more information, read the press release from the CNIB and the press release from the AEBC.


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