Amber Grant, 18, eats, sleeps, and breathes the Net, according to her father, Garry Grant, CEO of Carlsbad (Calif.)-based technology outfit SEO Inc.. The company, which has 65 employees, often calls on Amber to use her prodigious Web skills to help with a vexing problem: checking to see whether its clients’ Web sites are accessible to the blind.

“I give her tasks to go onto clients’ Web sites, find a specific product, choose it, purchase it, and get through checkout securely. whether it takes way too expanded, or it’s difficult or impossible, I know we need to do some work,” says Garry Grant, whose daughter has been blind since birth. Amber is able to navigate the World Wide Web using a “screen reader.” that is software designed for individuals who are blind, dyslexic, or have low vision. The software resides on the user’s PC and reads the text on the screen out loud, using braille-enabled keyboard commands rather than

But changes to many Web sites by the last half-dozen years can stymie screen-reading software and construct Web navigation difficult for the blind. Similar problems exist for the hard of hearing, who need captioning for training videos and other visual and auditory subject matter posted online, and for citizens with limited dexterity or no ability to manually manipulate a keyboard. Flash animation, photos, videos, defense systems, and spam blockers unwittingly invent Web sites difficult or impossible for the disabled to use.

Key Class Action Pending in California

While the Net has opened up tremendous possibilities for communication and convenience for those with sight, hearing, or mobility impairments, it can plus be very frustrating for them whether Web sites are not accessible, says Cynthia Waddell, executive director of the nonprofit universal Center for Disability Resources on the Net, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. “People have been stripping accessibility…

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