[access-uk] Re: Latest web accessibility regulations
- From: Léonie Watson <tink@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:17:46 +0100
There's quite a bit of information below Dave, so you may want to
grab a cup of tea first! If there's anything else I can help with though,
give me a shout on or off list.
The piece of legislation you're after is the Disability Discrimination Act
(DDA). The law itself doesn't provide any clear targets for web
accessibility, and in fact doesn't mention websites specifically at all.
Don't worry though, all is not lost.
The DDA deals with the provision of services. Under part two of the
act, a service includes facilities provided within the workplace. Under part
three of the act, a service includes facilities delivered to the general
public. Which part of the act is most relevant to you, will depend on how
the online training package is made available to you.
A statutory code of practice from the Disability Rights Commission
(DRC), now the Equality & Human Rights Council (EHRC), acknowledges that a
website is a service under the terms of the law. Although not a legal
document in its own right, a code of practice such as this would be
considered by a judge, should a case be brought to court.
The DDA itself simply says that a service provider should take
reasonable steps to ensure their services are accessible to people with
disabilities. It doesn't indicate what level of accessibility should be
achieved, or even indicate which guidelines should be used. We haven't had
any case law in the UK relating to web accessibility either, so we don't
have a precedent to follow. Again, don't worry, all is not lost.
What we do know, is that if a case were made against a service
provider, they would need to provide evidence that they had taken reasonable
steps to ensure their service was accessible. For websites, this is where
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines come into play.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are the globally
recognised standard for building accessible websites. Although untested by
UK case law, it is widely thought that a service provider successfully using
WCAG as part of a web development strategy, would have a case to make for
having taken reasonable steps.
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
Cases in both Australia and America have used the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines as a point of reference. Either to prove the fact
that a website wasn't accessible, or to define targets for accessibility
improvements. Although their legislation is of course different from ours,
the Australian Disability Discrimination Act is very similar in many ways to
our own.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines define three levels of
accessibility:
- Single-A, the most basic level.
- Double-A, the intermediate level.
- Triple-A, the highest level.
To give this some context, the UK government has defined Double-A as
the target level for government websites in this country. The European
Parliament has also selected Double-A as the target level for public sector
websites across the European Union. In short, Double-A accessibility is a
sensible place to aim.
The DDA is anticipatory, which means that service providers are
responsible for providing accessible services, without having to be asked
first. As with most laws, ignorance is also not a defence. In the time since
the relevant parts of the DDA came into effect in the late 90s, most
websites will have been redesigned at least once. If they have not
introduced accessibility during any of those redesigns, it may well make it
more difficult for them to provide evidence of having taken reasonable
steps.
So, your company has a responsibility to provide you with accessible
services, and the training company has a responsibility to provide
accessible services to your company. It can be a complex issue, and one that
many people find difficult to get to grips with.
A useful document for non technical people working with websites, is
PAS 78 (Guide to best practice in commissioning accessible websites). It has
plenty of helpful background information about accessibility, testing with
people with disabilities, procuring technology and more. I can't find the
link to download it at the moment, but if you drop me a line at work
(lw@xxxxxxxxxxx), I'll send you a copy.
Léonie.
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Ankers, Dave (UK)
Sent: 24 August 2009 11:05
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Latest web accessibility regulations
Hi all,
Could someone please provide details of the latest web accessibility
regulations by which companies are supposed to adhere to.
My company has implemented an online training package, which is totally
useless using JAWS as nothing has been correctly tagged.
Considering the size of the company I work for, it is very disappointing
that the IT department, do not seem to know the legal requirements regarding
web accessibility.
I therefore wish to remind them.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Regards
Dave Ankers
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