Website accessibility and legislation Nigel Williams nigel.williams@becta.org.uk

Website accessibility and legislation

Nigel Williams

nigel.williams@becta.org.uk

Overview• The following will be covered:

– What is accessibility and why implement it?

– Standards– Audience– Legislation and compliance – What other companies are doing– The NGfL standards

What is accessibility?• Accessibility is about ensuring that on

line content can be read and navigated by everyone regardless of experience, circumstance or the type of technology used to access content.

• Accessibility is not the same as usability although they often support each other by putting the end user at the heart of the design process.

Why implement accessibility?• Huge potential markets • Enhanced usability• Higher hit rates on search engines• Avoid litigation • Also see

www.w3.org/wai/bcase/benefits.html

What are the Accessibility Standards?• Many different words are used to describe

more or less the same thing: Section 508, See it Right, Bobby Approved.

• These are all based around the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

• WAI has three Levels (Level A, AA, AAA or Priority 1,2,3).

The potential audience• 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people • 7 million adults who have only basic literacy

skills • 6 million dyslexic people • 2 million blind and partially sighted people • 1.8 million people experiencing colour

blindness • 1.2 million people with learning disabilities

• 450,000 people with epilepsy • 350,000 people affected by strokes • 85,000 people with multiple sclerosis • Other people who have conditions such

as cerebral palsy, head injuries, injuries caused by accidents, etc. (Source: DRC)

• By 2010, 40% of the UK population will be 45+, the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly (source: EFD).

The Legal Requirement - SENDASpecial Education Needs and Disability

Act 2001 (SENDA)• No direct reference to website

accessibility.• It does state that education providers

should not discriminate against the needs of disabled students.

• http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/directions/issue4/senda.html

Legal Requirement - DDAThe Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

1995

• This directly references accessible websites, and will apply to everyone in the room

• The relevant section is in Section 3: Goods and Services

The text of the DDA• 2.2 (p7): “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.”

• 4.7 (p39): “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.”

• 2.13 - 2.17 (p11-13): “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.”

• 5.23 (p71): “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.”

• 5.26 (p68): “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.”

• http://www.drc-gb.org/open4all/law/Code%20of%20Practice.pdf

Ensuring compliance with this legislation?• There are two cases pending in this

country

• There have been in other countries – in the USA most recently and in Australia

• Ensure that your site is compliant with this legislation ensure that it meets WAI Guidelines – but what Level (A, AA, AAA)?

What Level of WAI is required?• If a site does not achieve level A then it

is unlikely to be compliant, and should ideally achieve Level AA.

• Many companies are now aiming to achieve a Level A + level to ensure compliance e.g. the BBC.

• The NGfL standards are also Level A + (all requirements for Level A + Keyboard Navigation + Clean HTML).

Conclusion

• There is a clear requirement to ensure that your site is accessible.

• If your site does not achieve Level A WAI compliance – you are unlikely to be compliant.

• For many companies implementing the NGfL technical standards will be sufficient to ensure legal safety.