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You've had a long day, and you realize you need to buy Grandma's birthday present ASAP. Going online and ordering a gift shipped is a time and stress lifesaver. But people who are blind and want to do the same thing have encountered many barriers, because of nationally known retailers whose Web sites aren't accessible to the blind.

Target Corp. is in a court battle in the Northern District of California with the National Federation for the Blind, because Target's shopping Web sites are inaccessible to the blind, according to a class action lawsuit filed by the federation. Joining in this lawsuit against Target are the National Federation for the Blind of California and a blind college student, Bruce "B.J." Sexton.

According to a federation press release, the plaintiffs charge that target.com has failed to meet the minimum standards of Web accessibility. It lacks compliant alt-text (which describes online images to the blind), contains inaccessible maps and other graphic features - and, because the Web site requires the use of a mouse to complete a transaction, blind customers are unable to make purchases on target.com independently.

In early September, federal District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel reviewed the case. She ruled that corporations that had retail Web sites must follow Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility regulations. The court held: "The `ordinary meaning' of the ADA's prohibition against discrimination in the enjoyment of goods, services, facilities or privileges, is that whatever goods or services the place provides, it cannot discriminate on the basis of disability in providing enjoyment of those goods and services." The court rejected Target's argument that only its physical store locations were covered by the civil rights laws, ruling instead that all services provided by Target, including its Web site, must be accessible to persons with disabilities.

This is a huge victory for people with blindness or vision disabilities. Explaining the ramification of the ruling, Mazen Basrawi, an Equal Justice Works fellow at Disability Rights Advocates, noted that "the court clarified that the law requires that any place of public accommodation is required to ensure that it does not discriminate, when it uses the Internet as a means to enhance the services it offers at a physical location."

Many retailers have counted on Internet sales to make their sales quotas for the year. The disability community depends on Internet sales and services to provide them with a higher quality of life and regards those sales as a necessity more than a convenience.

It's a no-brainer for businesses to invest in future sales, regardless of the method. The world is becoming smaller because of the Internet, with goods and services available from around the world. Target is foolish to fight the disability community and risk any potential increase in sales.

My greenbacks are just as good as the next person's. If a company doesn't want my money because it would have to invest to receive it, then I won't shop there.

McKee is a freelance disability writer and producer. E-mail her at chairgrrl@chairgrrl.com.