For Blind Internet Users, the Fix Can Be Worse Than the Flaws

Hundreds of people with disabilities have complained about issues with automated accessibility web services, whose popularity has risen sharply in recent years because of advances in A.I. and new legal pressures on companies to make their websites accessible. From a report: Over a dozen companies provide these tools. Two of the largest, AudioEye and UserWay, are publicly traded and reported revenues in the millions in recent financial statements. Some charge monthly fees ranging from about $50 to about $1,000, according to their websites, while others charge annual fees in the several-hundred-dollar or thousand-dollar range. (Pricing is typically presented in tiers and depends on how many pages a site has.) These companies list major corporations like Hulu, eBay and Uniqlo, as well as hospitals and local governments, among their clients. Built into their pitch is often a reassurance that their services will not only help people who are blind or low vision use the internet more easily but also keep companies from facing the litigation that can arise if they don't make their sites accessible. But it's not working out that way. Users like Mr. Perdue [an anecdote in the linked story] say the software offers little help, and some of the clients that use AudioEye, accessiBe and UserWay are facing legal action anyway. Last year, more than 400 companies with an accessibility widget or overlay on their website were sued over accessibility, according to data collected by a digital accessibility provider. "I've not yet found a single one that makes my life better," said Mr. Perdue, 38, who lives in Queens. He added, "I spend more time working around these overlays than I actually do navigating the website." Last year, over 700 accessibility advocates and web developers signed an open letter calling on organizations to stop using these tools, writing that the practical value of the new features was "largely overstated" and that the "overlays themselves may have accessibility problems." The letter also noted that, like Mr. Perdue, many blind users already had screen readers or other software to help them while online.

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