[whatwg] [HTML5] Accessibility question

[Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis]

Nicholas Shanks wrote:
> Then I would call such software a "screen reader + braille renderer + 
> hacks around in your OS program doing nasty things" program. I don't 
> think a pure screen reader should know anything about CSS or DOM or an 
> application's internals.

Well, you could do that, but then you're just redefining the term 
"screen reader" to apply to non-existent, theoretical, and potentially 
rather useless software rather than the useful software to which the 
term is usually applied and that allows my blind colleagues to do their job.

"Web browsers" don't just browse the web; "word processors" don't just 
process words; "screen readers" don't just read the screen; "HTML5" 
doesn't just provide a markup language for documents. Language purism of 
this sort is a distraction from solving real problems.

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis