Audio and notes for Joe Clark’s @media2007 session When web accessibility is not your problem

The audio from Joe Clark’s thought provoking session, delivered at @media2007 Europe, is now available — When web accessibility is not your problem (MP3, 28MB). Make sure to also grab his extensive notes for the session over on his site.

Everyone at this conference will have a working knowledge of Web accessibility. At this point, it would be hard to surprise you with the facts. But that’s just what this session sets out to do. We’ll explore the question of what the Web designer or developer definitely does not have to worry about in making sites accessible - and what the designer or developer should not have to worry about in an ideal world. Get ready for an entertainingly scathing indictment of browsers, screen readers, and so-called authoring tools. In a working environment where we always seem to be given one more thing to worry about, this session will give you a whole set of things to stop worrying about.

Controversial? Perhaps, but Joe’s thoughts certainly resonate with my own view on who’s responsible for web accessibility … it’s not good enough simply to dump all responsibility to web designers/developers. The onus has to also be on user agents, and end users themselves.

As an aside: skip forward to 43:48 of the audio file to listen to Joe calling me up on stage…