Is your website legal?

As well as long-standing moral obligations there are now also legal obligations to ensure your website is accessible to blind and disabled users, following the introduction of the final part of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in October 2004.

This new legislation has introduced a very real threat of legal action to organisations that do not comply with current web accessibility guidelines. In addition if your website is inaccessible you could be missing out on business from a large minority of the population.

With ever increasing significance being applied to web accessibility, we make it our business to keep abreast of the latest issues and guidelines.

What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility is about ensuring anyone can browse the web regardless of disability. Disability in this sense encompasses visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities.

Millions of people rely on accessible websites. Over 10% of the UK population are affected by sight, mobility, hearing, cognitive and learning problems.

People with disabilities use a wide variety of browsing devices that may not be able to understand a website if it is not accessibile, so even if a website is viewable perfectly well to 90% of people in Internet Explorer on a PC, for example, a large number of people may not be able to access it using other browsers.

How do you make a website accessible?

A set of guidelines on web accessibility are published by the W3C, the Internet governing body, and can be accessed on the W3C website. However compliance is not black and white, as the W3C offers three different levels of compliance. The "entry-level" is Priority 1, which should certainly be adhered to. Priority 2 is the EU-recommended level of compliance and the level that the vast majority of compliant UK public sector website choose to comply with. Priority 3 is the strictest level, though due to the complexities of Priority 3 most organisations are satisfied with Priority 2.

Website designers who are not aware of the latest web accessibility guidelines will almost certainly produce a site that excludes a great many people so it is important to select an agency with expertise in this field. At Nettrak our technical team stay up-to-date with all the latest developments in web accessibility and we design all new websites to be compliant with Priority 2 of the W3C guidelines - this is the EU-recommended level.

Are inaccessible websites breaking the law?

Not only are there strong moral and business cases for providing accessible services but there is also a legal obligation. Since October 2004, under UK law you need to make your website accessible to people with disabilities. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) states that providers of services to the public - whether they are a public authority, a private company or an individual and whether the service involves payment or is free - must make them accessible to people with disabilities.

This includes websites and as a result providers with inaccessible websites may be liable to prosecution.

What does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) say about web accessibility?

Part 3 of the DDA relates to the provision of goods, facilities and services. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has published a Code of Practice, which can be viewed in full on the Office of Public Sector Information website. The sections of the Code of Practice that are relevant to websites are:

• Section 2.2: "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."
• Section 4.7: "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."
• Sections 2.13 - 2.17: "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."
• Section 5.23: "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."
• Section 5.26: "For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include... accessible websites."

What happens if your website does not comply with the DDA legislation?

If a court case were to be brought against an organisation for non-compliance it is highly likely that the W3C accessibility guidelines would be used to assess the accessibility of the offending website and therefore the outcome of the case.

Should a case come to court, there are precedents from overseas. In 2000 an Australian blind man brought a successful case against the Sydney Olympics organising committee regarding their inaccessible website - it is worth noting that the Australian DDA is not dissimilar to the UK act. There have also been successful cases in the USA against against Ramada.com and Priceline.com, who were successfully sued over the inaccessibility of their websites.

In the UK the RNIB are reported to have targeted a number of large organisations over the non-compliance of their websites but a case is yet to come to court, principally because these organisations have allegedly gone out of their way to make their websites accessible, thereby avoiding the bad press that would almost undoubtedly be associated with being the first test case in the UK.

Does making a website accessibile offer other benefits?

Websites that conform to the accessibility guideline and that also comply with the W3C standards relating to web technologies are naturally more search engine friendly than poorly coded, inaccessible websites. This is primarily due to the lean, efficient and search engine friendly code that is created by web developers who build compliant websites.

For more information on how Nettrak can help you improve your website's natural search engine rankings please visit our search engine marketing section.

What changes need to be made to make a website accessible?

Firstly having an accessible site does not mean design is not important - good design is what attracts visitors, enables them to navigate easily and sells products and services. However the design should present no hurdles that might prevent your visitors from navigating the website or accessing any of its content. For example a website making heavy use of imagery or animation could easily be inaccessible unless appropriate techniques are used make it accessible.

Applying design guidelines relating to web accessibility not only prevents the exclusion of a large number of visitors but also reaps rewards such as improving download times and reducing long term maintenance costs.