Accessibility

Web accessibility is about making websites usable by everyone, regardless of age, experience, disability or available technology.

With this in mind we have re-developed this website to meet W3C AAA compliance standards for accessibility.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) was introduced with the intention of comprehensively tackling the discrimination that many disabled people face. Changes to the DDA that came into effect in 1999 and 2004 have now created a legal duty for websites to be made accessible.

It is worth noting that if you don't address your website's accessibility... your business could find itself in court!

The Disability Discrimination Act 1999 states:

It is unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service that it provides to members of the public.

A service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice that makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.

What services does the Disability Discrimination Act affect?

An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.

For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services, which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible, might include accessible websites.

For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include accessible websites.

There are a number of elements in website design that can prevent a website being accessible to different groups of people. Even brand new websites can contain elements that are "inaccessible" to certain browsing technologies.

Metafocus can help you address these issues by providing a website report detailing any areas that may need addressing, and suggesting options for the development of the site to overcome these issues. Making a website conform to accessibility standards does not necessarily mean scrapping your existing site, but if the site has not been designed with accessibility in mind it may well need additional work to conform to standards such as the W3C WAI (often known by its three levels of compliance, A, AA and AAA).

Contact Metafocus to find out how we can help with your web site's accessibility.