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But that may be changing. In recent weeks, two federal courts have released conflicting decisions on the matter. In March, a U.S. district court in Vermont refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the ebook- and PDF-hosting site, Scribd, that argued the Internet should be a place of accommodation under the ADA. But earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled otherwise, saying that the ADA did not apply to Netflix because it was not a physical structure.

The decisions highlight a longstanding split in the appeals courts regarding whether or not non-physical structures are covered by Title III. Observers say it is too early to know whether the differences will continue or whether the U.S. Supreme Court—or Congress—will ultimately weigh in on the matter.

The result has been a sore spot for the disabled for some time now, particularly as more of our professional, commercial, and private lives move online. The Internet, they say, is a space that should be covered by the ADA as much as any other.

“It’s very inaccessible depending on the industry, depending on the sector,” said Jonathan Lazar, a professor of computer and information sciences at Towson University, who’s been studying this issue for 15 years. “Some of the largest e-commerce sites are fully accessible. Some of our best government sites are fully accessible.” But Lazar and others say the majority of websites are not.

When the disabled go online, much of their activity can be hampered by the rich sensory experience the rest of us take for granted. The hearing-impaired face either the absence of closed-captioning or apps that do a poor job of providing it. The seeing-impaired are unable to access screen readers that orally interpret online text or send it to a Braille display. They often miss important visual elements—like “submit” buttons—because they aren’t coded appropriately for the blind. Those with other physical or cognitive challenges face a variety of problems that range from websites that lack the code to “speak” to assistive devices (in the case of those with multiple or more severe physical disabilities) to an inability to understand what information is provided (in the case of those with cognitive or developmental disabilities).

“If you want to stay connected to the dads in your neighborhood to know what activities are going on, or if you want to stay connected to your church because you want to know what the social activities are, they might be using Facebook. To not be able to access it means you’re out of the loop,” said Mark Riccobono, the president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), whose organization has been active in the fight to have the Internet labeled as a place of accommodation. Facebook has been moving to make more parts of its service accessible, this month announcing an accessibility toolkit for developers.