Post #2998116

A paraplegic can’t build a house, but can learn to code. Sure there are people with cognitive disabilities who might not be able to do it, but you can’t expect every open source project to be completely accessible even to the most severely cognitively impaired. That’s a great way to kill the open source community. Commerical products should absolutely be required by law to provide reasonable accessibility, because they have the resources and manpower to do so and are driven by a profit motive. Grants should be available to help smaller companies meet these requirements so they’re not disadvantaged relative to the big ones. But using ableism to justify making excessive demands on open-source project maintainers who in many cases are doing it solo and for free as a passion project, is kind of absurd. And where does it stop? Can I post a silly little flash game on a public git repo intended as nothing more than a personal project for learning Lua scripts, and then some internet rando tells me I have to add full interpretive ASL, real-time alternative text, and optional eye-tracking controls? If that’s above my level, does that mean I can’t post my silly little flash game? Also, ability is not the same thing as aptitude. Not knowing how to code isn’t a disability any more than not knowing how to wire a house. I can’t tell an electrician (specifically a hobbyist who works for free) that he needs to rewire my house for me just because I don’t know how to do it. I can learn home wiring, or I can pay a professional. But expecting every hobbyist to serve my needs for free just because I don’t have their skill sets would be insane.