Sites for the Blind

WASHINGTON - When Gary Wunder was studying computer programming in the 1970s, he had to pay for more than just tuition and books. Blind since birth, Wunder hired a helper to read punch cards and printouts for him so he could complete his degree. As technology improved, Wunder started using a Braille-equipped computer terminal in his work as a programmer for the University of Missouri's hospital system. But in the 1990s, Wunder was tripped up by the rise of software developed with the assumption that all computer users can see icons and wield a mouse.

"I think for a while some of us tried to dismiss them as glitzy and cute," says Wunder of graphical programs like Windows. "But they're not going away. It's kind of a step backward" for disabled computer users, he says. Besides the technical hurdles such technology presents at work, Wunder is frustrated by his inability to use the Internet to access federal government documents and services or pay his taxes like millions of other Americans do.

But Wunder is about to get some help from the federal government. On June 21, new regulations take effect requiring federal Web sites to be accessible by patrons who are blind, deaf or have other impediments. Government purchasing agents will have to observe detailed regulations when buying equipment ranging from computers to telephones to photocopiers. For companies angling for a slice of the federal government's multibillion-dollar procurement pie, the new rules mean changing the way they do business.

The stakes are huge. The federal government spent an estimated $37.6 billion on information technology in the 1999 fiscal year. The General Services Administration estimates that a third of that money was spent on technology covered under the new rules. The government forecasts it will cost at least $85 million annually to comply with the regulations.

Advocates are optimistic that the federal requirements will promote widespread availability of technology that can be used more easily by the disabled. According to the Census Bureau, 54 million people - about one-fifth of the U.S. population - have some level of disability.

"The rules challenge the designers of information technology to design for more than just one [type of] user," says James Gashel, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind. "They'll have a major ripple effect throughout the economy."

The new rules require software programs purchased by federal agencies to use text, not just screen icons, to identify functions. Web sites for federal agencies must be designed to minimize obstacles for disabled users. For instance, information on federal sites or those operated by government contractors must be accessible to electronic screen readers that convert text to speech. Sites that convey information through the use of color, such as highlighting certain words, must offer data that is not color-coded. And pictures and graphics must be tagged with text descriptions.