Website Access - Do You Comply? - Summer 2004

01 July 2004

All websites will shortly have to comply with rules making them accessible for disabled users. The Disability Discrimination Act [DDA] 1995 Section III which refers to accessible websites, came into force on 1st October 1999 and the Code of Practice was published on 27th May 2002.

A report published by the Disability Rights Commission entitled The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People was published on 14 April 2004. The report contains some alarming statistics and concludes that “swathes of businesses” may not be complying even with existing equal access laws and it was only a matter of time before they faced legal challenge from disabled consumers. The Commission used automated software tools to assess about 1000 websites. The software revealed that 81% of those websites failed to meet minimum standards.

The practical effect for disabled people is that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to book a holiday, open a bank account or even book theatre tickets on line.

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