Why be ADA compliant? Look at National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation

In the September 1, 2008 issue of Computerworld ("Benchmarks Last Week", p. 13):

"Target Corp. agreed to modify its Web site and pay $6 million in damages to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the National Federation of the Blind. The NFB will test the site's accessibility annually for three years."

I've written previously on the need to build Web sites that are compliant with the American Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, but my reasons focused on the work we conduct for U.S. federal and state government agencies.

Now it appears that commercial Web sites in addition to government ones soon will be required to adhere to accessibility standards . I applaud this movement, since the Section 508 and W3C WCAG guidelines are mature and allow standards-based Web development that is accessible to the largest number of people possible.