Accessibility - Legal Context
Web design to accessibility guidelines and legal requirements
Experienced
web developers that design to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and many other standards such as
'Bobby Approved', HTML, 'LYNX inspected' (text only browser) and to
the Disability Discrimination Act - DDA and the Special Educational Needs and Disability
Act - SENDA
Legal Context to accessibility
Special Educational Needs and Disability Act - SENDA
Since 1st September 2002 the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 gave
disabled people legal rights in relation to their access to post school education.
Under DDA Part 4 education providers have legal responsibilities:
- a) not to treat disabled learners less favourably for a reason related to their
disability
- b) to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled learner
These new duties apply not just to teaching and learning but also to any service,
which is provided specifically for students or learners. The duties are anticipatory,
that is providers will need to anticipate the likely needs of disabled learners
and not merely respond to individual needs as they arise.
Section 21 of the Disability Discrimination Act - DDA
David Blunkett, said (sic.): "Access to information is vital for all of us...for
those without immediate access to the written word, reading is just as important
as for everyone else...that is why I support the campaign to bring about greater
accessibility for material ..."
The remaining Rights of Access in Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act
1995 are now in place. Under Section 21(4) of the Act: "A service provider must
take reasonable steps to provide auxiliary aids or services if this would enable
(or make it easier for) disabled persons to make use of any goods, facilities or
services which it offers or provides to the public."
Are you prepared? Is all your information accessible? Are you missing potential
clients or customers?
Revised Code of Practice to accompany the DDA
In February 2002, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) published a revised Code
of Practice to accompany the DDA (available from www.drc-gb.org). The Code of Practice
explains fully the duties of those providing services. For example, a fashion retailer
with the facility to buy on-line constitutes the offering of
a service under the terms of the Act. A service can be free of charge or chargeable
and all e commerce sites are covered by the Act as well as single page websites
that simply offer information about services.
In April 2004, the DRC published the findings of extensive research into web accessibility
for disabled people. The survey included detailed analysis of 1,000 websites by
a panel of disabled people and gave rise to extensive findings and recommendations
intended to guide service providers to enable them to meet the requirements of the
DDA.
The DRC's DDA Code of Practice and the report "The Web Access and Inclusion for
Disabled People" are available at www.drc-gb.org
Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act
In America Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act required all federal (Govt.)
websites and their vendors to be fully accessible to people with disabilities by
June 2001. Although enacted more than 14 years ago, amending the law in 1998 to
give members of the public and government employees with disabilities the right
to sue agencies in federal court for non-compliance, ensured an active programme
for successful website compliance. How long before the UK gets tough?
Accessible W3CAAA Web Design - More information
Latest Projects
WebsynergiDesign
won the contract and created the software (secure, interactive, web-standards compliant,
meeting the highest of web accessibility W3CAAA standards, web software) to undertake
this marketing activity and analyse its success.
"The level of activity generated by these campaigns met or exceeded our expectations."
John Rieger - The Law Society
The President of Nigeria required a sophisticated PowerPoint presentation to showcase his country’s resources to international investors such as Shell and Chevron at a conference attended by press officers from all over the globe.
WebsynergiDesign’s created a powerful, strongly branded PowerPoint presentation.
WebsynergiDesign
carried out the successful design of their property website and also provided a
range of high end glossy brochures:
"I am writing to congratulate you and your team for the first class sales brochure
that you have produced for our latest development in Belgravia"
Rigby & Rigby
Presentation
for an Automotive international trade show in Japan on behalf of the government
agencies we designed an impactful presentation pulling together content from a variety
of automotive manufacturers.
"Many thanks for your help on this project and turning it around within such a
short timescale. I was most impressed with your level of expertise and service and
will happily recommend you to other colleagues."
Ginny Truslove
Web Applications / Software Development
WebsynergiDesign
have created an innovative, versatile and highly functional website and CMS for
SO LONDON Publishing. The website and bespoke content management software are designed
to the highest .Net 2 and CSS programming standards which allow for online management
of the magazine including:
- magazine issue management
- articles and article ranking
- image management
- image auto optimisation and resizing
- complex banner advert management
Diamond Dealer Direct is a long-established diamond merchant and manufacturer
with a recently acquired retail outlet which now enables them to deal direct with
the public giving access to one of the UK’s largest stock of internationally recognised
certified diamonds from the top gemmology laboratories. A high end ecommerce shopping
website and content management system with a sophisticated and customised pricing
software system and also an extensive search engine campaign was developed for Diamond
Dealer Direct.
Web design summary:
- Web Design
- Ecommerce shopping cart
- Search Engine Optimisation
- PPC campaign
- Bespoke Content Management System
- Reporting System
- Order Management System
- Registration System