observe inspire communicate supplied commercial in confidence. © view 2004 understanding...

Supplied commercial in confidence. © View 2004

observe inspire communicate

Understanding Accessibility & the Disability Discrimination Act (1995)

Presentation to Karin Vincent, Value Retail

August 2004



Presentation Outline

• Accessibility overview– Myths and Assumptions– Disability in the UK

• The Disability Discrimination Act (1995)– Scope of legislation– Recommended compliance

• WAI Guidelines– ‘A’ standard– ‘AA’ standard– ‘AAA’ standard

• Q & A



Accessibility - Myths and Assumptions – 1

• Myth: Disabled people don’t use the web• Fact: Just as, if not more likely to use the web. Microsoft study

found 63% of disabled people were online.

• Myth: Blind people can't drive, so they won't be interested in a website about cars.

• Fact: Might well purchase or gather information for people they know.

• Myth: Accessibility only benefits blind • Fact: Many other disabled users, as well as able-bodied people,

can benefit from an accessible site.



Accessibility - Myths and Assumptions – 2

• Myth: Everyone can use a mouse, upgrade to the latest browser or download the required plug-in.

• Fact: Disabled people often use a range of assistive technologies rather than browsers eg. speech readers, text browsers.

• Myth: You must provide text only pages on your site. You cannot use images, red and green, or a small font.

• Fact: Separating presentation (styles) from content (information) means most websites only need one version of the site.

• Myth: Inaccessible websites will be prosecuted if not made accessible by October 2004

• Fact: Disability legislation has been in place since 1996.



Disability in the UK

• 8 million affected by arthritis• 7.2 million cases of a mental health problem• 5.8 million have a hearing loss• 4.2 million have chronic back pain• 2 million have a visual impairment• 1.2 million have a learning disability• 320,000 use a wheelchair• 250,000 have a facial disfigurement• 150,000 have ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis)• 9 million are aged 64+

There are 8.6 million disabled people in the UK and 37 million in the EU



The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) Scope of the DDA



Disability – The Definition

“A person has a disability for the purposes of The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 if she/he has a physical or mental impairment which has substantial and long term adverse effect on her/his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

Substantial means:

Not minor or trivial e.g. broken arm

Activities include:

Mobility Manual dexterity Lifting / carrying everyday object Memory concentration Learning Perception of danger

Day-to-day means:

Carried out by most people on a regular basis

Long term:

Lasted at least 12 months, or will last at least 12 months or will last for the rest of the person’s life.

This includes progressive conditions, e.g. MS, ME, HIV+, Cancer



Scope of the DDA – 1

• When does it come into law?– Since December 1996, it has been unlawful to treat disabled people

less favourably than other people for a reason that relates to their disability

– Since October 1999, the law requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, such as providing extra help or changing the way they provide their service

– From 2004, service providers may have to make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access

• Who is responsible?– All those involved in providing services are affected by the Act – from

the most senior director or manager to the most junior employee, whether full or part-time, permanent or temporary



Scope of the DDA - 2

• What about European and International legislation?– Similar legislation to the DDA exists in America (the ADA), Canada,

Australia, Japan and certain EU countries.

– On 13 June 2002 the European Parliament adopted a resolution supporting the importance of Web accessibility in Member States.

– In particular, the resolution states that Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (priority levels 1 and 2) and future versions, should be implemented on public Web sites.



What the DDA says:

A provider of services discriminates against a disabled person if:

• Section 20 (1):– For a reason which relates to the disabled person’s disability they

are treated less favourably than they treat or would treat others to whom that reason does not or would not apply

• Section 20 (2):– A service provider fails to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in

relation to the disabled person

AND– They cannot show that the treatment in question is justified



Accessible Website Design

• While the DDA does not specify how to make a site accessible, detailed guidelines are offered by the W3 consortium.

• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). – Level 1 (‘A’ standard) – MUST be satisfied– Level 2 (‘AA’) – SHOULD be satisfied– Level 3 (‘AAA’) – MAY be satisfied

Companies should work towards best practice, not minimum compliance



WAI Guidelines, Priority 1- ‘A’ compliance



‘A’ Standard – WAI 1.1

• Provide a text equivalent for non-text elements– Alt tags for all images that convey information (eg. text within

graphics)– Text should be descriptive and meaningful– Use empty tag (“”) if image for presentation only




• Provide auditory description of multimedia presentation– eg. Important information within video, Flash




• Do not rely solely on colour to convey information– eg.graphs, maps

• Strawberries as seen by a person with normal vision

• Strawberries as seen by a person with red-green colour deficit




• Pages should still be usable if style sheets are removed

With CSS (style sheet)

Without CSS




• Use the simplest and clearest language appropriate for site content

– Use a ‘plain English’ writing style– Provide glossary where necessary– Avoid using jargon– Avoid using large blocks of text



WAI Guidelines, Priority 2- ‘AA’ compliance



‘AA’ Standard – WAI 2.2

• Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background– Use of images– Careful choice of colour for text and background




• Use text rather than text within graphics for links– Navigation menus– Option to include both image and text eg. Pixy method




• Create documents that validate to published formal grammars– XHTML 1.0– CSS 2




Presentation

Content

• Separate presentation from content




• Use relative rather than absolute units in markup– Resizable text, tables, layout– Enables users with poor vision to increase size of elements

Small font size

Large font size




• Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearised

– Users with non-visual browsers receive information sequentially– Users may tab through links – need logical order




• For scripts and applets ensure that event handlers are device-independent

– User interaction should be possible via keyboard as well as mouse




• Clearly identify target of each link– Non-browser users may navigate site primarily through links– Link should be meaningful and individual eg. should not use ‘click

here’




• Give each page a meaningful title to aid orientation within site– First element seen / heard by non-visual browser users



WAI Guidelines, Priority 3- ‘AAA’ compliance



‘AAA’ Standard – WAI 9.4

• Create a logical order through links, form controls and objects– If not incorporated in site structure, can be set manually via

TABINDEX



‘AAA’ Standard – WAI 9.5

• Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links– Standard access keys defined in Accessibility statement



‘AAA’ Standard – WAI 10.5 / 13.6

• Group related links and separate adjacent links– Eg. Navigation bar grouped as one section– Allow users to skip over navigation



For more information go to:

• See It Right Accessible Scheme - www.rnib.org.uk/digital/siraccess

• Dive into Accessibility – www.diveintoaccessibility.org • Web Accessibility Initiative General Information - www.w3.org/

wai• Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines -

www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/ • Colour blindness simulation - www.vischeck.com• Lynx viewer - http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html • JAWS for Windows - http://www.freedomscientific.com/



Website Accessibility Accreditation

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