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Comment by michael_storm | Hacker News Reader

People with disabilities don’t need random developers determining a priori whether or not they’ll be able to use the same software as everyone else. People with disabilities aren’t an afterthought; they’re not a bonus; it’s a requirement to produce software that everyone can use — not just people like you. If it were more work to produce software for people of another race than yourself, would you be making the same argument?

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Did you read my comment below? I made the comment with application developers in mind that develop applications for job types that require sight as a first job requirement (pilots, doctors, ...).

I’m the last to say blind people are an afterthought which is why I thanked the original commenter for his reminder. I merely want to bring some nuance that there are always exceptions.

And to reiterate, I agree with that nuance and will do my best to apply it to future comments.

I’m disagreeing with that nuance. I’m saying that blind people should be able to enjoy the same things that sighted people can, rather than developers deciding for them whether or not blind people are in the target market.

Your strident advocacy is admirable, and that's why I upvoted your first comment.

But we have to deal with reality here. Some tasks simply require normal sight. Believe me, as a legally blind person myself, I wish I could drive, but I understand why I can't and accept it. The same applies for some software applications. So all I can ask is that developers pay attention to accessibility unless there's some reason why it just won't work for their application. I think that's what your interlocutor is getting at as well.

Fair enough. I think we’re pretty close together on that.

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