I am very interested in accessibility and making the web accessible for all. One of my first units of my degree (Bsc hons Web Technology) got me interested and made me realize how bad most of the websites on the Internet are. Even large websites run by big companies don’t apply the most simple techniques to provide access for people with disabilities.
The biggest problem is that its a very gray area within the law. There is no set law which says a website must provide access for someone who is blind or can’t use a mouse.
But this is where the companies and big websites will get caught out if they don’t act quickly there is a disability discrimination act. If a person went onto a website and couldn’t use it because it didn’t accommodate to their disability the website/company is discriminating against that person and that disability which is illegal and the person could take the company/website owner to court over it.
I would have thought companies would be responding quicker as we are becoming more and more of a suing/lawsuit culture.
In my opinion I think it will take a high profile case with a large organization getting their fingers and pocket burnt to make other companies to review there websites usability and accessibility.
I personally always work to make my websites a minimum of WAI - AA (The link is at the bottom of the page in the footer). I also take into account some of the more achievable WAI - AAA checkpoints.
I believe in accessibility on the Internet to the extent that I am writing my final year dissertation on accessibility. I am still refining my research question from such a broad area tho.