Olympics Web Site Inaccessible to Blind

Sept. 15 -- It could have been a special Olympics for the visually impaired this year. Instead, it looks like a missed opportunity.

The Sydney Olympics Web site — the cyber hub where millions of people will gather to follow the world games — will not be accessible to sight-impaired and blind computer users despite available technology and an order by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HEREOC) to do so. Officials of the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) said they couldn’t fix the site in time for today’s opening ceremony.

‘Battle for Access’

But the battle for access has been brewing for more than a year.

In June 1999, Bruce Maguire, a blind Australian, lodged a complaint against SOCOG, saying the official site did not comply with the accessibility guidelines outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, an international organization that develops technologies and protocols for the Web.

On an Internet mailing list about disabilities, Marie Flood, special needs manager at the University of Technology in Sydney, posted Maguire’s thoughts on the issue: “I believe that by refusing to cater to the needs of people who are blind,SOCOG is creating unnecessary divisions within the Australian community,and is undermining our international reputation as an inclusive, tolerantsociety that is compassionate toward the needs of disadvantaged groups.In so doing, SOCOG is, in my view, acting contrary to the spirit andideals of the Olympics movement.”

In his official complaint, Maguire requested that the Commission make adjustments to the Web site, including text for all images and image map links, insuring access from the schedule page, the sports index and the results tables.

His requests were not met.

“It is unfortunate that SOCOG did not, with the eyes of the world upon the Sydney Games, use the official site to showcase the world’s best practices and more fully embrace the Olympic spirit of inclusiveness,” said Peter Coroneos, director of the Internet Industry Association, an Australian group that deals with Internet issues. “All in all, you’d have to say that anyone who is going to invest in a Web presence would be most unwise if they didn’t optimize the site for disabled access.”