that in 2020 there were 3,550 such cases filed in the US, up more than 50 percent since 2018. Murphy has filed several other suits similar to the one against Eyebobs.
Automating the work of complying with those guidelines could make the web more welcoming. But more than 600 accessibility experts have put their names toasking website operators to not use such automation tools, including AccessiBe. Signers include contributors to W3C guidelines and employees of Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
In his report on AccessiBe, Groves cited an image of a model wearing a white dress for sale on an ecommerce site. The alternative text provided, apparently generated by AccessiBe’s technology, was “Grass nature and summer.” In other cases, he reported, AccessiBe failed to properly add labels to forms and buttons.support documents
AccessiBe’s community relations manager, Joshua Basile, a quadriplegic paralyzed below his shoulders, says that since he joined the company early this year it has engaged more with disability advocacy groups and clarified that it offers “manual remediation” alongside automatic fixes. “It’s an evolving technology and we’re getting better and better,” he says.