Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Web Accessibility

There has been widespread speculation about the new rules introduced by the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act), which will ensure that sites are accessible to blind and disabled. Try to find specific information about it on the Internet and it is likely that you will come away empty-handed.

The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and DRC (Disability Rights Commission), two of the most famous advocates for the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and accessible websites, have no specific information on the laws and what websites specifically need to do to meet the requirements of the law.

So, what does the state law?

Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act refers to the provision of goods, services and facilities. The Code of Practice, which refers to websites in particular, can be downloaded in its entirety from the DRC website ([http://www.drc-gb.org/open4all/law/Code% 20of% 20Practice.pdf] 676kb) .

The relevant quotes from this 175 pages of the document are:

2.2 (P7): "The law makes it illegal for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public."

4.7 (P39): ". From 1 October 1999, the provider must take steps to change a practice that makes it too difficult for people with disabilities to receive their services"

2.13 to 2.17 (p11-13): ".. What services are covered by the Law An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service for the public on its Web site is a provision of a service and is subject to the law "

5.23 (p71): "For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which may be reasonably expected to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites."

5.26 (p68): "For people with hearing impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which may be reasonably expected to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites."
When you say the law will come into force?

It 's widely believed that new laws will be implemented in October this year, when the final part of the DDA came into force. This last piece of legislation actually refers to service providers who have to consider the possibility of permanent physical adjustments to their premises and is not related to the Internet in any way.

The law about accessible websites came into force on 1 October 1999 ([http://www.drc-gb.org/open4all/law/code.asp]) and the Code of Practice for this section of the law was published May 27, 2002 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20020720.htm). This means that the majority of websites are already in violation of the law.

You can be sued?

Well, probably. The RNIB claim that they decided to take a number of lawsuits against organizations in relation to their sites. When they raised the issues of accessibility of the site under the DDA, companies have typically made the necessary changes, rather than face the prospect of legal action.

The DRC has now published their findings from their formal investigation into 1000 websites. ([Http :/ / www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/2.pdf]). If your site has been entered then you should start thinking about making it accessible to all web users in the very near future.

What you need to do to comply?

It 's widely believed that if, or perhaps more appropriately when, makes a case in court that the W3C accessibility guidelines will be used to assess the accessibility of a website and ultimately decide the outcome of the case. The W3C is the governing body of the Internet and its web accessibility guidelines can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html.

To complicate matters further, the W3C offers three different levels of compliance. Priority 1 (guidelines, which must be satisfied according to the W3C) will almost certainly have to be respected. Priority 2 (guidelines that should be met and are the EU recommended level of compliance (http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-10_02/access/internetaccess.shtml), or part, will probably need to be respected too.

The judges also undoubtedly take the lead of the result of an Australian case in 2000, when a blind man successfully sued the Sydney Olympics organizing committee on their site inaccessible (http://www.contenu.nu/socog.html ) .......