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Guidelines to make websites more accessible to disabled people

Thu, 07/26/2012 - 11:48 -- admin

Disability Rights Commission (D.R.C.), U.K., has called upon disabled internet users to rise up against inaccessible website owners and help it take complaints with the force of law. The step from D.R.C. followed the launch of new guidelines to amend the limitations in Website Accessibility Initiative, set up by the World Wide Website Consortium. New guidelines on how to make websites user-friendly for disabled people have been developed by the British Standards Institution. The initiative was sponsored by the D.R.C. after an investigation in April 2004. The report revealed that more than 80 per cent of websites were inaccessible to people with disabilities. The commission reckons that when disabled people come across inaccessible sites they usually just move on to the site they can use. Without disabled people prepared to challenge the establishment in the courts, the D.R.C. can do little more than provide advice and guidelines. While publicising the new guidelines, D.R.C. called up on disabled people to complain about offenders so it can take action against them. The guidelines named P.A.S. or Publicly Available Specification - 78 (P.A.S. 78), describes itself as a guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites. P.A.S. 78 covers the following areas:

 

  • Commissioning, building, publishing and maintaining a website.
  • Defining an accessibility policy.
  • The web accessibility initiative (W.A.I.) guidelines - why are they important and which ones should be followed.
  • How to check that a site confirms to best practices.
  • Additional measures that go beyond W.A.I. guidance.

The D.R.C. asserted that it is vital for disabled people to be a part web accessibility testing. By making websites more accessible, site owners would be in a position to tap into the estimated £80 billion (Rupees 6,320 billion) spent by people with disabilities, every year.

Month of Issue: 
April
Year of Issue: 
2 006
Source: 
BBC News
Segregate as: 
International

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