Website Options

I was looking thru Vertical Response which is a marketing service trying to figure out all the options and such for a client I am working with.  I fell upon this ‘Accessible Opt-In Form’ on the Vertical Response Forum.  Mind you this is from 2008 but it brings up a lot of questions for me about web accessibility.

Here is the question from the forum:

The current opt-in form for lists opens a pop-up window where the user has no control of the window once displayed. This is inaccessible because it does not alert the user that a window is opened, and the window contains no information on what the window is for visually impaired.

Is there a way that vertical response opt-in forms may be customized to be made accessible? Can i create my own form and use a URL from vertical response to submit to particular list or can you guys address this issue?

Why would a website create options that are not accessible?  What this man was talking about was the basic opt-in form… but to be accessible he had to edit the html code.

The first line to the answer on the forum:

I’m not sure if I fully understand your question.

And then goes into how to fix this question he does not understand.

When I posted on the WordPress forum about an issue one of my readers had with commenting and asked how WordPress was accessible I received a nice quick response which was fabulous but later in our conversation as I was asking more questions about accessibility on the forum he states:

Again, accessibility depends on specifically which type. Blind, color blind, voice command, etc. We do our best to keep everything accessible to the widest audience, and appreciate user feedback to improve things.

I do appreciate him being open about feedback but I was sure to correct him in terms of categorizing accessibility.

If something is only ‘accessible’ to certain people/abilities/disabilities then is it really accessible?

If web designers and web help do not understand the full term of accessibility is that creating a larger accessibility issue?

Are there courses/training in place at these companies to inform their employees of what accessibility is and entails?

It seems to me we are right back at having to ask for accessibility.