8m adults struggle to access websites

Public sector and corporate websites could be turning away almost eight million people (17 percent of adults) if they fail to meet the latest accessibility guidelines, according to new figures released by national employment charity Shaw Trust.

The research, conducted for Shaw Trust by YouGov, shows almost one sixth of the population has 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, public sector and corporate IT, HR and communications managers or directors have been urged to seize the opportunity to review their websites against current website accessibility standards.

Indeed, with the Central Office of Information’s deadline for Delivering Accessible Websites come into force for all central Government-owned websites in December 2009, the clock is ticking.

And a high level of website accessibility is of even more importance given the growing numbers of users of assistive technology such as voice activation software, which enables users to navigate websites using their voice instead of a keyboard or mouse, as well as the increasing amount of rich video content available on some sites.

Cam Nicholl from Shaw Trust says: “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, Shaw Trust offers a comprehensive testing service where you will be left in no doubt about the standard of accessibility and whether or not your site is compliant.”