Web Design and Accessibility

UK Law - Disability Discrimination Act

From 1999 there has been a legal requirement for UK websites to be accessible. Since then all websites have been expected to facilitate all users regardless of ability by making “reasonable adjustments” to their websites.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which ensures that websites are accessible to blind and disabled users. Try to find specific information about what the law requires in relation to web sites, there is very little, if anything that to be found

Two of the most prominent advocates of the DDA and accessible websites are the Royal National Institue for the Blind (RNIB) and the , Disability Rights Commission (DRC) which is now part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Neither websites of these organisations have any specific information about the laws and the requirements for websites.

The World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium is the recognised body that sets the standards and initiatives for web usage. One of these initiative is the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The WAI works with organisations around the world to increase the accessibility of the web. Although there are no absolute standards for the WAI are the internationally recognised definitive set of guidelines for accessible web design known as WCAG Version 1.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). There are 3 levels of compliance Level A, the lowest, Level AA, and Level AAA, the highest.

WCAG 1.0 is the stable and referenceable version which were approved in May 1999. WCAG 2.0 is being developed with the following aims

• to apply broadly to different technologies now and in the future.
• be easier to use and understand.
• to be more precisely testable with automated testing and human evaluation.

WAI anticipates WCAG 2.0 may be completed in 2008.

Accessibility

In April 2004 a team worrking with the DRC produced thhe most comprehensive report on the state of web accessibility for UK websites. The tests on 1000 sites confirmed what accessibilty professional already knew, the poor level of accessibility of most sites. Of the websites tested 81% failed the automated testing to reach Level A of WCAG version 1.

Can site owners be prosecuted?

Essentially it is possible for site owners ho do not comply with the DDA to be prosecuted. When they RNIB raised the accessibility issues of websites with 2 large companies under the DDA, both companies made the necessary changes, rather than facing the prospect of legal action (in exchange for anonymity).

How do you comply with the DDA?

W3C WAI offers three different levels of compliance, each checkpoint has a priority level based on the checkpoint's impact on accessibility.

• Priority 1 - This checkpoint must be satisfied. If not then one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Meeting the standrds set by this checkpoint is a basic requirement..
• Priority 2- This chekpoint should be satisfied. If not then one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Meeting the checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.
• Priority 3 - THis checkpoint may be satisfied. If not then one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

Priority 1 guidelines will almost certainly have to be adhered to and it is likely that Priority 2 guidelines should also be adhered to. The EU recommended level of compliance is to fulfill Priorities 1 and 2, although not binding.