Web Accessibility
Benefits and Challenges of Web Accessibility
Accessible Web sites have many advantages and also present challenges to organisations: particularly those concerned with social inclusion, digital inclusion and life long learning.
Accessible Web sites reach a wider audience
The issues of accessibility and usability are closely linked. Accessible sites are more usable and successfully encourage customer loyalty and have the capacity to reach a much wider audience.
They can run on multiple devices and they can be used on multiple operating systems e.g. Windows, Mac and Linux. They can be accessed through different browsers e.g. Internet Explorer, working on old as well as new browsers. This also results in considerably extending access and reducing barriers to disabled Internet users who will be accessing the World Wide Web through a range of special devices such as speech synthesisers and braille readers.
Economic advantages
Accessible Web sites have economic advantages. A larger audience means an increased market and greater commercial opportunities. For example: disabled people, who are more likely than most people to wish to access services online, have a large disposable income.
Bert Massie , Chair of the Disability Rights Commission also highlights the spending power of disabled people on the Disability Rights Commission Web site:
"Disabled people have around £40 billion to spend - a fact that businesses and service providers need to bear in mind."
Accessible Web sites and Compliance with Legislation
The potential risk of legal action is a further driving force towards ensuring that your Web site is accessible. Recent legislation and the development of good practice standards could leave organisations open to legal action. Whilst there have been no legal cases relating to accessibility in the UK, as yet, legal action has been taken in both Australia and USA.
In the UK the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 places a responsibility on both private and public sector organisations to make their information services as accessible as is reasonably possible.
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights Act, May, 2001, requires all academic institutions and local authorities to ensure that services are accessible to disabled students. This extends to informal training including lifelong learning initiatives and will also have implications for on line training programmes.
Codes of Practice and information on legislation can be found on The Disability Rights Commission Web site http://www.drc-gb.org/
Standards and Web Accessibility Guidelines
The Web Accessibility Initiative has developed guidelines for developing accessible Web sites. These guidelines also provide the basis for Web site Accessibility and Usability Audits. Problems are identified and recommendations provided within a written report will relate to the www.w3c guidelines. (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/)
Each checkpoint has a priority level assigned by the WAI Working Group based on the checkpoint's impact on accessibility.
[Priority 1] A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents. [Priority 2] A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents. [Priority 3] A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents. http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#Introduction
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