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by esphen 2734 days ago
Be careful with this.

While it may sound like a good idea, it literally violates the U.S. Air Carrier Access Act and SAS (the airline) was recently fined for doing exactly what you describe[1].

This solution may also create a situation where the accessible website becomes a "second class citizen" in terms of content because managers are not willing to allocate resources to improving the dedicated accessibility-friendly version. I argue it's much better to make a11y a part of the specification process just like we did with the responsive web when we abandoned WAP.

[1]: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot7418

1 comments

Interesting. I don't work in the airline space, but I wouldn't be surprised if other sectors had similar laws. So I guess the suggestion is moot.
Not only do you run the risk of offending users with disabilities by forcing a separate experience, this also creates a separate code base to maintain and often developers forget to update text-only versions. I've worked in the accessibility space for years and this concept is an idea of the past and likely to generate a lawsuit. Accessibility lawsuits are popping up left and right in the public sector across every business vertical and I would strongly advise against this.