Aol To Help Blind Surf The Internet

The National Federation of the Blind agreed to drop a lawsuit accusing AOL of violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. In return, AOL will make its software compatible with programs the blind use to convert digital information to speech or Braille.

The pact could open the Internet to thousands of blind people who have been too intimidated - or too exasperated, to use it, according to Curtis Chong, the federation’s director of technology.

“It can happen,” he said. “We’ll have a great opportunity for people to go online with a lot less effort than it takes today.”

The federation and nine members of its Massachusetts chapter filed suit last November in U.S. District Court in Boston, claiming AOL, the world’s largest Internet provider with 23 million subscribers, is a public accommodation.

As such, the Disabilities Act requires it to provide equal access to the blind, the suit argued. The federation asked the court to order AOL to redesign its software so blind people could use it.