Visually disabled people who come across a website that is difficult for them to access should try to contact the author of the website by phone or e-mail to complain. If the website remains unchanged after the author has received complaints legal action should be taken against them as they are in violation of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
The World Wide Web Consortium website contains a set of accessibility guidelines under the Web Accessibility Initiative which all people should follow when designing websites.
Here is an example of a legal case concerning website accessibility:
In Australia in June 1999, Bruce Maguire lodged a complaint under the DDA against the website of the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), which Maguire alleged was inaccessible to him as a blind person.
On 24 August 2000, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released its decision and supported Maguire’s complaint, ordering certain access provisions to be in place on the Olympics.com site by 15 September 2000. SOCOG ignored the ruling and was subsequently fined A$20,000.
There are a number of solutions which could help visually impaired people when accessing websites:
- Some websites contain accessibility options that allow users to modify the size of text or different colours to make pages easier to read
- People could use screen readers that will read out text aloud to them
- Special keyboards are available where buttons and text can be larger or Braille can be used
Information on DDA
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/uk-website-legal-requirements.shtml
Information on WAI
http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/Overview.html
Legal Case
http://www.contenu.nu/socog.html
No comments:
Post a Comment