Every so often I intend to post an entry like this, a round up of news and thoughts on a particular subject.
This time I will be talking about Accessibility. For part 1 of this article I will start with an overview of Accessibility, the law and how it impacts the web.
The encyclopaediadefinition:
Accessibility is a term used to describe how easy it is for people to get to, use, and understand things. Accessibility is most often used to describe facilities or amenities to assist people with disabilities, as in “wheelchair accessible”.
This can extend to Braille signage, wheelchair ramps, audio signals at pedestrian crossings, walkway contours, website design, and so on. The disability rights movement advocates for more accessibility.
Various countries have legislation requiring accessibility – here are two examples:
- In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 has numerous provisions
for accessibility. - In the US, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, new public and
private business construction generally must be accessible.
In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was first introduced in 1995 but it was spilt into three phases of “duty” which meant that persons, companies or organisations had a duty under the law to abide by the DDA. Each phase came into affect separately and the DRC states they were as follows:
- Since 2 December 1996 it has been unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favorably 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;
- Since 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.
Having read the three stages of the DDA people could be forgiven for thinking that that it doesn’t explicitly mention websites and that is true but if the phraseology is analysed it specifically states “Service Providers” and a website constitutes a service which is where the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) comes in to provide a little more clarity with it’s Code of Practice and that specifically mentions websites as here:
“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.” (DRC, 2002, p13).
So as Trent Moss rightly points out:
“The law about accessible websites came into force on 1st October 1999 and the Code of Practice for this section of the Act was published on 27th May 2002. This means that the majority of websites are already in breach of the law.”
In summary above tells us what Accessibility is and that since 1999 it has been illegal to discriminate against disabled persons in the United Kingdom by not providing adequate accessibility measures within the design and functionality of a website.
Stayed tuned to this blog for Part 2 of this Accessibility entry for more information about accessibility on the internet and how it is has hidden benefits besides keeping you on right side of “the law”.
