AN ACCESSIBILITY AGENCY that
has been investigating how easy websites are to access by users with
disabilities, has concluded that the majority of web designers are
failing to produce sites in line with the minimum levels of
accessibility for all. Commissioned by the United Nations as part of
its International Day of Disabled Persons, Nomensa investigated many of
the world's leading sites, taking a sample from five different sectors
in 20 countries. The sectors studied included: travel, retail, banking,
government and media. In the UK, the brands under scrutiny were:
British Airways, Marks & Spencer's, Lloyds TSB, the British PM's
site and The Guardian. The report states that across all 100 sites
probed, only three (including Tony Blair's) achieved the minimum
standards, along with Blair's Spanish and German counterparts.
Among the portfolio of statistics it was revealed that 93 per cent failed to provide adequate text descriptions for graphics, 78 per cent used colours with poor contrast causing issues for colour blind sufferers, 97 per cent denied the ability to resize pages and 89 per cent offered poor navigation. "It's important for commercial, legal and moral reasons that websites put in place a strategy for accessibility," urges Alex Metcalfe, Nomensa's head of client services.
The Act in full - Disability Discrimination Act 1995