Web Site Accessibility

The large costs associated with accessible websites are generally experienced when a site has been completed by a designer unaware of the DDA and then has to be recoded to comply when the website owner learns of the error. We have been involved with several sites where this has happened and in our experience it is much cheaper and easier to get the design correct the first time round.

Most website owners are also unaware of the large traffic increases possible by making a website accessible. This is due to the way search engines analyse a website to catalogue it. More information on this can be found on the website accessibility page.

The World Wide Web

Never before has an information medium been able to reach such a vast audience so quickly and easily as the Internet does. A website is instantly available to millions of people worldwide. The sheer size of the potential audience justifies the otherwise high cost for any organization of producing a quality website. The Internet provides a massive resource for anyone with access to it and that presents a problem.

Access to the Internet

Gaining access to the Internet is easy for the majority of people who wish to use it. Simply acquire a computer, connect it to a telephone line and away you go. Any person browsing the Internet who has perfect vision and the latest software should never have a problem viewing websites. However, a large proportion of people using the Internet today do not have this ideal situation.

Graphical browsers

Most websites available on the Internet today do not take into account the proportion of people using browser applications other than graphical ones (such as Internet Explorer). As Internet technology and usage has developed there has been a proliferation of very graphical websites designed to catch the eye. The unfortunate consequence of this is that an ever increasing number of websites are not accessible by people with disabilities.

Vision Impairment and the Internet

The growth of the World Wide Web means that people with profound vision impairments now have the opportunity to enjoy a wealth of information and services that were previously unavailable to them. People with very little or no vision can read web pages with the help of access technology installed on their computer. Synthesized speech software can read the content of web pages aloud through a speaker while Braille software can output the same content to a retractable Braille display enabling the web page to be read by touch.

Correct Design

However, for these access technologies to work properly websites must be appropriately and correctly designed. To cater for everyone websites should also be flexible enough to allow individual people to customize their view of each page to suit their own particular needs and circumstances.

On a purely financial note it makes economic sense to design a website to be fully accessible. If a website is only useful to approximately ninety percent of people visiting it then ten percent of the site development investment has been wasted.

"An accessible website is one that can be accessed by everyone"

Accessibility Services

As well as designing and developing accessible websites AFM offers an accessibility evaluation service for existing websites. Our evaluation will compare your website with current World Wide Web Consortium Accessibility Guidelines and supply the results to you in the form of a printed report. Included with each report is a compact disk containing the evaluation test evidence in the form of PDF files.

The main areas covered by the report are as follows:

• Executive summary
• Why have an accessible website?
• Website accessibility and the Law (British Disability Discrimination Act 1995)
• What does our website look like to other people?
• Method of evaluation
• Evaluation and validation tools
• Results and recommended priorities of actions
• General comments
• Description of the accompanying compact disk
• References

For more information please contact us.

A website owners legal obligation

There seems to be widespread speculation about the legislation introduced under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which ensures that websites are accessible to blind and disabled users. Try to find specific information about what the law requires you to do and chances are you'll come up empty handed.

The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission), two of the most renowned advocates for the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and accessible websites, have no specific information about the laws and what websites specifically need to do in order to meet the legal requirements.

What does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) state?

Part III of the DDA refers to the provision of goods, facilities and services. The Code of Practice which specifically mentions websites, can be downloaded in its entirety from the DRC website.

The relevant quotes from the 175-page Code of Practice are:

• 2.2: “The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.”
• 4.7: “From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.”
• 2.13 - 2.17: “What services are affected by the Disability Discrimination Act? An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.”
• 5.23: “For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites.”
• 5.26 (p68): “For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites.”

When did the DDA come into force?

It's widely believed that the new laws were implemented in October 2004, when the final part of the DDA came into force. This final piece of legislation actually referred to service providers having to consider making permanent physical adjustments to their premises and is not related to the Internet in any way.

Section 111 of the DDA, which refers to accessible websites, came into force on 1st October 1999 and the Code of Practice for this section of the DDA was published on 27th May 2002. This means that the majority of websites have been in breach of the law for over five years.

Can you be sued?

Basically, yes. The RNIB has approached two large companies with regard to their websites. When they raised the accessibility issues of the websites under the DDA, both companies made the necessary changes, rather than facing the prospect of legal action (in exchange for anonymity).

The DRC launched a formal investigation into 1000 websites, of which over 80% were next to impossible for disabled people to use. They issued a stern warning that organizations will face legal action under the DDA and the threat of unlimited compensation payments if they fail to make websites accessible for people with disabilities.

How do you comply with the DDA?

It's widely believed that if, or perhaps more appropriately when, a case makes it to court that the W3C accessibility guidelines will be used to assess a website's accessibility and ultimately decide the outcome of the case. The W3C is the Internet governing body and its web accessibility guidlines can be found on its website.

To further complicate matters, the W3C offers three different levels of compliance. Priority 1 guidelines, (which must be satisfied according to the W3C) will almost certainly have to be adhered to. Priority 2 guidelines (which should be satisfied and are the EU recommended level of compliance), or some part of, will probably need to be adhered to too.

The courts will also no doubt take guidance from the outcome of an Australian case in 2000, when a blind man successfully sued the Sydney Olympics organizing committee over their inaccessible website. The Australian Disability Discrimination Act quite closely resembles that of the UK. UK courts may also take into account the New York case against Ramada.com and Priceline.com, who were also successfully sued over the accessibility of their websites.