Website accessibility
In the UK today, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. The Act delivers rights to disabled people in the areas of employment, access to goods, facilities and services and buying or renting land or property.
So, how does that apply to websites?
Take a look at the revised Code of Practice that deals with the duties placed by Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The full documentation (Code of Practice - PDF) specifically states websites.
This means that your website is subject to Part 3 of Disability Discrimination Act which came into force in 1999, of which the code of practice was published in 2002.
A lot of websites are already falling short of accessible and are almost certainly in breach of the law and have been for a number of years.
What’s the solution?
The law doesn’t specifically state what makes a website accessible. This causes confusion and not everyone agrees on the subject as there are many forms of disability. The general consensus is that the World Wide Web Consortium have published a set of guidelines (WCAG1.0) that assist in creating an accessible website. It is likely that when required, by law, to assess a websites accessibility, it’s these guidelines that will be the yardstick by which your site will be measured.
The guidelines, labelled WCAG 1.0 for short, are split into 3 priorities and each have their own set of checkpoints. Making sure your website adheres to at least the first priority is the very least that will be required.
How can TN38 Consulting help?
Coming from a technical viewpoint, we can demistify the guidelines and lay them out practically to create a plan of action to ensure your website follows the rules. Not only do people find your website accessible but so will a search engine giving you a marketing benefit too.
Reasons why you should comply:
- People may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all.
- People may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
- People may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.
- People may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection.
- People may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written.
- People may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered with (e.g. working in a loud environment etc).
- People may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.
Contact us to find out more about the guidelines and whether your site meets the requirements. The checkpoints are something that should be manually checked and software can only do half the job. Don’t get caught out!