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In this area discuss the following: Do we, as a society, have a special obligation to disabled persons to ensure that they have full Internet access? Is the argument that by providing improved access and services for disabled persons, nondisabled users will benefit as well, a reasonable one?  Consider that it can be dangerous to reason along this line; for example, suppose that nondisabled persons did not benefit from software applications designed for the disabled.  Would that be a reason for not investing in technological applications to assist disabled people?

Reply to this :

This is an interesting topic and one that without looking any farther into, I would say that yes, we should help disabled people have access the internet.  I can’t see any reason that they shouldn’t have the same access to it as everyone else.  However, I would also say that I tend to lean towards the “greatest good for the greater number of people” way of thinking.  If we are spending millions of dollars to help make the internet more accessible to handicapped people who aren’t able to work then I would have to ask, why? If you can’t help contribute to society, then why do you need to be able to surf reddit or TMZ or Wikipedia?  It’s not like the majority of able-bodied people use the internet for any worthwhile purpose, so if it is financially draining to let the non-working disabled have access to it, I would have to ask why?  What purpose does this serve?  I would assume the majority of accessibility options to help the disabled would fall into the categories of helping the blind to hear what is online, and helping those with poor motor control being able to get online.  I would think that in 2014, these would be fairly easy obstacles to overcome, and I would imagine they already have been.  If not, we cannot use the excuse that if helping the disabled get online doesn’t affect the abled-bodied in a positive way, then we don’t need to spend time worrying about it, because the disabled have their own set of special challenges that we help them meet currently in their day to day lives without asking this question. 

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