News

Nearly 81% of British based websites are inaccessible

Times Online stated the following on April 14,2004

"Website operators who fail to make their sites user-friendly for disabled customers face unlimited compensation payments and legal costs of up to £50,000.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) served notice yesterday on private and public sector operators that it intends to get tough with the 81 percent of British-based sites that currently fall foul of accessibility standards for disabled web users."

Disability Rights Commission - high accessibility sites are 46% quicker for non-disabled users

A report written by the Disability Rights Commission entitled 'The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People' stated that:

"both blind users and non-impaired users took far longer on low accessibility sites than on high accessibility sites, and that this effect was not much more pronounced for disabled users: 51% longer for blind users, and 46% for non-disabled users."

The report also stated:

"On low accessibility sites, 35% of tasks were rated as taking an unacceptably long time for blind users, compared to only 15% of tasks for unimpaired users".

Nearly 60% of leading disability websites fail basic accessibility checks

A research survey carried out by Ethical Media entitled 'Disability 50' showed that the majority of disability organisations do not address Web accessibility needs. 58% failed to achieve a compliance level, which the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) state as 'compulsory'. WCAG are the recognised standard in determining accessibility.

RNIB has made two out of court settlements against companies failing to make their websites accessible

New Media Age reported on 4 September, 2003.

"The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) has reached out-of-court settlements with two of the companies it was pursuing under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) for failing to make their Web sites accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

As first reported in NMA, the RNIB revealed it was involved in a number of legal challenges under the DDA, marking the first time the law had been used to tackle the issue of accessible sites (NMA 3 July).

The organisation said it has now concluded two potential law suits against companies without recourse to the courts, meaning that the UK has still to get its first Web accessibility test case.

The RNIB is unable to provide any details of those involved in the settlements, but maintains it's working on further potential cases on behalf of blind and partially sighted people.

Although neither of the two resolved cases went this far, the spokesman said one came closer than the other and that the RNIB was actually on the verge of issuing county court proceedings."

Company websites fail disabled people

Guardian Unlimited Online stated the following on June 2, 2004

"The websites of almost two thirds of the UK's top 100 firms fail to meet even the most basic recognised standard of accessibility to disabled people, according to a report published today.

Analysis of the websites of the FTSE 100 firms by the digital design company Nomensa suggests that many disabled people encounter problems, sometimes to the extent that they are impossible for them to use.

The report echoes recent concerns expressed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) that firms that do no meet minimum standards of accessibility could face legal action.

The DRC said it was "only a matter of time" before firms faced a legal challenge from disabled consumers under existing equal access laws, principally the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

So far there has been no highly publicised test case but it is understood that some firms have already been forced to settle out of court on this issue.

Today's Nomensa study found that only 37% of corporate websites achieve even the lowest level of accessibility standards approved by the World Wide Web Consortium's guidelines. These are widely regarded as an international benchmark and are supported by the European commission, the US government and firms like Microsoft and IBM."