Accessibility

It's Not Just a Good Thing to do...

It's also the law. There are obviously strong moral reasons for ensuring that the internet lives up to its potential to be a leveler and allow people with disabilities to access its resources. However, there is now legislation (in the UK, this is part of the Disability Discrimination Act, and in the US it's Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act) to enforce this.

Here are some quotes from the DRC Code of Practice:

• 2.2 (p7): "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 (p39): "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 (p11-13): "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 (p71): "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."

And it's Also Good for Business

This may seem very onerous to businesses who are trying to establish a presence on the internet. But, as it happens, there is a good business case for ensuring that your site is accessible. Rather than regurgitate it, we'll let the Web Accessibility Initiative say it for themselves.

What Next?

If you have an existing site, we're very happy to evaluate it for accessibility. We also include accessibility tips in our newsletters.