Eight million adults struggle to access websites

18 Jan 2010

by: Margaret Snell

Public sector and corporate websites could be turning away almost eight million adults if they fail to meet the latest accessibility guidelines, according to figures from national employment charity Shaw Trust.

The research, conducted for Shaw Trust by YouGov, shows almost one sixth of the population have health conditions, including blindness or visual impairment, colour blindness, hearing impairment, dyslexia or mobility impairment, which make it difficult for them to access and transact on many websites. With this in mind and with the Central Office of Information’s deadline for Delivering Accessible Websites having come into force for all central government owned websites in December 2009, public sector and corporate IT, HR and communications managers or directors are being urged by the Trust to review their websites. Organisations that want to ensure their website meets current accessibility guidelines might find a list of considerations produced by the charity helpful.

Shaw Trust’s Website Accessibility Auditing service offers a testing service that checks the standard of accessibility and whether or not a site is compliant.

Cam Nicholl from Shaw Trust said: “People with certain disabilities can find it difficult or even impossible to access, navigate or read the content of a web page if the information isn’t presented correctly. It’s really important to remember that it is a legal requirement for public facing websites, intranet and extranets to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and that it also meets the Disability Equality Duty criteria as laid out in the COI’s report ‘Building Inclusive Websites’. 

“If you are unsure whether your website complies with the relevant guidelines, contact the Shaw Trust or visit our website.”

 

 

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