Making web sites accessible

Comply with the Law

Accessibility is no longer simply a matter of best practice. A site offering a service to the general public or your general workforce can be in contravention of laws designed to ensure that citizens with disabilities are not excluded from using the web.

UK Legislation

The UK Disability Discrimination Act (sections 19 and 21) now obliges all companies and other service providers to take all steps that are reasonable to change any practice, policy or procedure which makes it 'impossible or unreasonably difficult' for disabled persons to make use of a service, including those accessed via the internet. This legislation affects private and public sector alike, whether or not their Internet services are for profit.

For public sector clients, it's all there in the latest policy documents and guidelines. Sites which are intended for public access should be accessible to everyone, and all UK governmental sites will have to comply with, as a minimum, level A of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), with level AA as the recommended target.

For corporate clients, it's a bottom line issue -- conforming to approved accessibility guidelines increases access and usability of your Web site for all visitors -- whether disabled or not. It can increase your market share/audience reach by a fifth (W3C figures), improve search engine rankings, aid re-purposing of content for multiple formats or devices, and assist access by low bandwidth users.

EU Legislation

Under objective 2c of the Europe Action Plan 2002 agreed by the Feira Council in June 2000, all public sector web sites and their content in Member States, and in the European institutions, must be designed to be accessible. This is to ensure that citizens with disabilities can access information and take full advantage of the potential for e-government. This action is to be executed by the European Institutions and the 15 European Union Member States through the Adoption of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines for public web sites by the end of 2001.

Where are we now?

The RNIB recently provided legal representation for two individuals in separate cases relating to "unreasonable difficulties" and "less favourable treatment" in the provision of services on the internet. The charity took the action under the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995. The RNIB are not naming the organisations concerned, as they are more concerned to raise awareness of the issues rather than point the finger of blame.

It is hoped that these cases will provide some clear legal guidance on what constitutes "unreasonable difficulties" and "less favourable treatment". It is likely that this will take guidance from the case of Maguire v Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, brought in Australia under commonwealth legislation very similar to the DDA, and it is suggested that level AA of the WCAG v1.0 will be cited as a benchmark for accessibility.

What next?

Need advice on compliance with your obligations under the DDA? Contact us at info@communis.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

See also: Reach More People - get a bigger slice of the market