Does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) include websites? Matthew Eaton Accessibility Specialist

Yes! A Website provides a service. The DDA Code of Practice – Part III mentions websites explicitly:

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.”

– 2.17 (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.”

(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 should include … accessible websites.”

(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 should include … accessible websites.”

Have any website owners been successfully prosecuted? In the UK all cases of website inaccessibility have settled outside of court Probably because of: –Negative Publicity –High Cost of legal proceedings –Low cost of legal compliance The Sydney Olympics were fined Aus$20,000 under the Australian DDA, very similar to the UK DDA

Aside from the legal obligation There is a clear moral case There is also a very strong business case –Increase Market Share and Audience Reach –Improve usability for non-disabled and disabled visitors –Improve Search Engine listings –Reduce site maintenance –Demonstrate Social Responsibility

The Business Case 8.5 million of the UK population have with some form of disability (source: ONS). 2 million of the UK population have some for of sight problem (source: RNIB). £40-50 billion - The combined estimated spending power of disabled people (source: Employers Forum on Disability).

Is my Website Accessible? Website Accessibility is a “sliding scale” Automated accessibility assessments can only test some aspects - manual checking is required to get a true idea of a website’s accessibility Please contact MicroAngelo to discuss your website’s accessibility

Costs Producing a website in an accessible way costs no more than producing a website in an inaccessible way, and can save money in the long term due to reduced update costs Some aspects of an accessible website can only be implemented in the design phase – you cannot retro-fit them into an inaccessible website Attempting to retro-fit website accessibility is not cost effective

How can I make sure my website will be accessible? Choose your web development company carefully. Very few web development companies have the expertise to create an accessible website. There is no recognised industry certification or accreditation to differentiate between web development companies.