- What is accessibility?
- What is disabled access?
- What does the law say?
- Does the DDA relate to the accessibility of websites?
- Will I be sued if my site is not accessible?
- How does this affect my business?
- Will it cost more money to have an accessible website?
- If my site is accessible will it still look good?
- How will I know if my site is accessible or not?
- What accessibility level is required?
- What are accessibility levels?
- Is there an ongoing process to maintain an accessible site?
- How can I test my site?
1. What is accessibility?
The accessibility of websites covers much more than just access for the disabled. It's about giving people unhindered access to a web site from various devices, such as web-enabled televisions, mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA's). It's also about giving access to users who have different screen sizes, browser types and settings, or those who do not have plug-ins such as Flash.
2. What is disabled access?
For people with sensory or mobility impairments, the Internet can be a mixed blessing. Home shopping, for example, can be invaluable to people who prefer not to visit busy shopping centres or for whom these places are inaccessible. However, in much the same way as a building may be problematic to the disabled, a web site may also present barriers to access.
For example, a visually impaired Internet user can use a screen reader to translate the contents of web pages for speech synthesisers or Braille displays. The user will struggle to understand web pages if, for example, images are displayed on the page without a text alternative.
3. What does the law say?
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), Code of Practice states,
"The Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person: by refusing to provide (or deliberately not providing) any service which it provides (or is prepared to provide) to members of the public." Page 7, point 2.2.
And on the DRC website you will find the following quote,
"All organisations that provide goods, facilities or services to the public, whether paid for or for free, are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act, no matter how large or small they are."
4. Does the DDA relate to the accessibility of websites?
Yes, websites that offer goods and services to the public must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. The relevant parts of the DDA have been in force since October 1999. The related Code of Practice was published by the DRC in May 2002.
- since 2 December 1996 it has been unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably for a reason related to their disability;
- since 1 October 1999 service providers have had to make 'reasonable adjustments' for disabled people, such as providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services;
- from 1 October 2004 service providers may have to make other 'reasonable adjustments' in relation to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access.
The Code of Practice specifically mentions websites:
"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." Page 13, point 2.17.
Bert Massie, DRC Chairman, speaking at the launch of the investigation into web accessibility in April 14, 2004 said,
Organisations that offer goods and services over the web already have a legal duty to make their websites accessible to disabled people.
5. Will I be sued if my site is not accessible?
As yet, no UK business or organisation has been prosecuted for having an inaccessible website. If a customer contacts you about an access issue with your website you should try to resolve the dispute by informal or formal discussion.
On the DRC website you will find the following statement,
"If the dispute is not resolved, you could be taken to court. If the customer wins the case, they could win compensation for financial loss, for injured feeling or both."
The DRC also made clear that it finds the current state of web accessibility to be "unacceptable".
The DRC explained:
"Our report contains a range of recommendations to help website owners and developers tackle the barriers to inclusive design. However, where the response is inadequate, the DRC will not hesitate to use its legal powers - from 'named-party' Formal Investigations, which can lead to sanctions against the owners of inaccessible web sites, to support for test cases brought by individual disabled people - to ensure the web becomes fully inclusive to disabled users."
You can find information and advice related to ensuring that you are treating disable people fairly at the Disability Rights Commission website.
Out-law.com - legal advice and support
6. How does this affect my business?
Ensuring that your website is accessible to the widest possible audience should have a positive impact on your business.
You should make more money, as more customers will be able to access your service. The 9.1 million Disabled People in the UK have a discretionary income of more than £50 billion per year.
You should save money, as a site that is organised and coded to be accessible is likely to be easier to maintain, and your pages will load quicker so you will save on bandwidth.
More people should find your site via search engines such as Google. Web content that is clearly structured to increase accessibility for disabled people also makes it easier for search engines to index that content.
W3C Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design
7. Will it cost more money to have an accessible website?
Whether it will cost you more or not depends on who you choose to design your site and the skills and experience they have. There are many web design agencies that create accessible web designs as standard practice; they do not charge a premium for WCAG standards compliance.
If your website is inaccessible and needs to be modified then there will be an additional cost. Again, the cost will depend on the amount of work involved and the company employed to do the work.
However, it is likely that additional costs will be offset by the increased traffic to your site, and the increased ease of use for all visitors.
8. If my site is accessible will it still look good?
Absolutely, it is a myth that accessible websites are text only or cater for the lowest common denominator. There is no reason why an accessible website should be any worse or better looking than a site that is not accessible.
Whether your website is well designed or not is down to the talents of the web designer employed to the do the job, not whether it is accessible or not.
9. How will I know if my site is accessible or not?
It is generally accepted that if your site conforms to the good practice outlined in the World Wide Web Consortiums (W3C) Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), you have demonstrated your commitment to making your site accessible. This standards setting body was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the Internet.
Evidence from court cases in other countries with similar legislation suggest that the W3C Guidelines are likely to be used as the main way to measure accessibility of an organisations website.
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
10. What accessibility level is required?
To be safe, you should aim to ensure your website meets at least Priority 2 or AA of the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
The European Union recommend that member states websites conform to at least Priority 2 of the W3C/WCAG guidelines.
UK Government recommends that government websites should achieve Priority 2 compliance.
Accessibility law in the European Union
11. What are accessibility levels?
The W3C WCAG guidelines are a series of checkpoints designed to ensure your site will be more accessible to disabled people. The checkpoints are grouped into different levels of compliance.
Priority 1 or A: If your website does not meet Priority 1, 'one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document'
Priority 2 or AA: If your website does not meet Priority 2 guidelines, 'one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document'.
Priority 3 or AAA: If your website does not meet this checkpoint, 'one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document'.
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 - Checklist
12. Is there an ongoing process to maintain an accessible site?
You should check the accessibility of your website regularly to ensure that you are providing an accessible service to your customers.
13. How can I test my site?
You can do basic accessibility tests using the tools below. Please be aware that the validators below only check one page at a time, and automatic tools can never replace human interpretation.
The first validator is for web accessibility in general, and the other two are for testing your web pages for web standards. This affectively 'spell checks' your page for mistakes. In the same way written language can have spelling mistakes, so to can web pages.