Blind Users Online

Given the amount of comment spam I receive, I’ve been thinking about different techniques to stop it. One of the more powerful approaches is to require users to enter text that they see from a visual image, usually a grainy or distorted picture representing various numbers and letters.

Of course, this keeps blind users from being unable to register for anything that uses this type of authorization system. This got me thinking about ways we can protect from abuse but also ensure that the disabled aren’t shut out.

Searching on the web, I found Why blind users can’t register at Slashdot and the PayPal approach definitely sounds interesting. Another idea that would work for even deaf-blind users is to introduce a Disabled Computer Users Registry and come up with some key-based system that could be used to bypass these abuse gateways.

Of course, if a key is leaked, the abuse can still happen, but that should be much easier to track down. Or maybe another technical solution could help out (such as something as primitive as a hardware dongle).

Anyway, I’m surprised that nothing like this exists. If anyone knows of something similar, please let me know. If not, I might try to pull something together in the coming months. It’s unfortunate that technology is leaving more and more disabled people behind. I know we can all do better.