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Introduction to accessible websites and the Disability Discrimination Act

What is an accessible website?
Most internet users will be using a regular graphical web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, but many disabled users have difficulty with these browsers and use alternatives. These may include the following:

blind users will often use text-only browsers or screen readers to tell them what is on a site
physically handicapped users may be unable to use a mouse, requiring the ability to skip through options using a keyboard
partially-sighted users often set the text size on the screen to be extra large, contrary to the designer's intention
users with colour-blindness may have problems if there is not enough contrast in a site or if understanding it depends on seeing colours

Why should I make my website accessible?
The most important reason to make your website accessible is that you're breaking the law if you don't, under the Disability Discrimination Act.

What is the Disability Discrimation Act?
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into force on 1st October 1999. The Act simply requires that businesses do everything in their power to allow disabled people to access their services. This has led to many public buildings and shops getting ramps, introduction of extra facilities for guide dogs and the upgrading of public bus services which wheelchair uses previously had trouble accessing.

The DDA also applies to websites however, as this extract shows:

"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."

It's vital that anyone producing a customer-facing website bears this issue in mind, not just because having an inaccessible website can land you in hot water, but because the other benefits that come from making your website accessible far outweigh the costs.

Why else should I make my website accessible?

Increased profits. The financial rewards from making your site DDA compliant can be huge. Over 19% of people in the UK report some kind of disability. If only a small fraction of these people are unable to use your site you could be losing out on thousands of new customers.
Better public image. consumers are paying increasing attention to a company's Corporate Social Responsibility. Making your website DDA compliant shows you care about your customers as much as your profits.
Increased loyalty. Disabled users to talk to themselves and to others. If your site is accessible when your competitors are not, word of mouth will spread and you could find yourself with an army of regular customers ready to sing your praises to anyone who will listen.
It's morally the right thing to do.

OK, so how can I make my website accessible? Luckily the organisation that puts web standards together, the W3C consortium, has come up with a set of standard guidelines for developers to follow when creating accessible sites. Ensuring your website follows these will be a major step to compliance. A good web development company will go even further, auditing your site from a disabled user's point of view and highlighting any other strengths or weaknesses.

The bad news is that the majority of websites are still being produced to inaccessible standards. The good news is that for most sites, these issues are easily fixable. Many web development companies specialise in DDA compliance and can guide you through the process.

Deeper Shade can provide a full consultation and web overhaul service to ensure your existing site gets up to speed, even if you have paid little attention to accessiblity before now. Making a website accessible takes a lot of thought and effort, but it's always worth doing as the rewards can be great, for you and for your customers.

Contact us for a DDA compliance quote

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