Does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) include websites?

1
Does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
include websites?

• Matthew Eaton
• Accessibility Specialist

2
Yes!

• A Website provides a service.
• The DDA Code of Practice Part III mentions
  websites explicitly

3

• 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

• 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.

5

• 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.

6

• 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 should include
  accessible websites.

7

• 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 should
  include accessible websites.

8
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 Aus20,000 under
  the Australian DDA, very similar to the UK DDA

9
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

10
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).

11
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 websites accessibility
• Please contact MicroAngelo to discuss your
  websites accessibility

12
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

13
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.