[blindgeek]

I'm blind, but I wouldn't know. I haven't used bard or gpt or any of that, and I don't plan on doing so. I thought about playing with GPT back in early 2023, when the hype really started picking up. But when I realized that they wanted my phone number, I noped out.

[jpsouth]

Understood, thanks for the reply, blindgeek.

An additional question, if you don’t mind answering (and there’s zero obligation to). How have you found accessibility has changed on the web over the years? We have many tools these days to assist but do you feel there’s been a notable improvement to what used to be in place?

[blindgeek]

I've been online in some form or other since 1993. Back in 1993, everything was basically accessible by default, because it was plain text.

No, there has not been an improvement, and in fact, things have gotten worse in a lot of ways. Most of that is due to SPAs, and people who decide to use JavaScript when HTML widgets would suffice.

I'm also involved with a text mode web browser project, [edbrowse](https://edbrowse.org/). Ten years ago, it was feasible to use edbrowse for a great deal of online activity. For instance, I used it to make purchases from Amazon and other online stores. I could log into Paypal and send money with it.

Then, in the mid 2010s or so, SPAs started becoming a thing and edbrowse broke on more and more sites. At this point, in 2024, I can't even use it to read READMEs on Github.

And yes, I have accessibility trouble when using mainstream browsers too, all the time.

[zardo]

The DOJ takes the position that the ADA applies to websites and they've done something about it like six times. If only they would increase enforcement efforts about 10000 fold.

[jpsouth]

This is shocking, I can’t do much about the wider industry but I’m a huge advocate for accessibility on the web, I’ll continue being a pain in the arse to POs, PMs, devs and general management pushing for this kind of change.

If everyone put their own loved ones in the situation of others, life would be different.

[smabie]

Do you also nope out on other services (bank accounts, uber, etc) thst require a phone number? Somewhat genuinely curious because I don't understand what the issue is with giving your phone number?

[blindgeek]

As a rule, I tend to nope out on signing up for anything at all. I do have a Lyft account and of course the bank account both of those entities have a legitimate reason for contacting me so I don’t mind them having my phone number, but it’s really terrible how we’ve normalized giving phone numbers away. It has become so normalized that I’m on a nerd site trying to explain why I feel so strongly about giving away my personal data. Also nota beni, PII is a liability, not an asset.