Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), was introduced with the intention of tackling the discrimination which many disabled people face.

The DDA changes that came into effect on October 1 2004 removed small employer, police and fire services exemption. The armed forces is the only service where exemption still applies. Additionally, service providers must now make physical adjustments to their premises where it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use the service they provide. Note: websites have had a legal obligation to be accessible since 1999.

For further details go to the RNIB web access centre.

And remember search engines are the biggest "blind users" of them all. Search engine bots (such as Google) work in a very similar way to assistive technologies such as text readers. In other words a disabled accessible website is likely to achieve a far higher search engine rating than one which is not.

Would you like to find out more about disability access, search engine optimisation and the web?

business / organisation name:
area of business / service provision:
contact name:
position in business / organisation:
e-mail address:
telephone number:

How may people does your business / orgaisation employ:
10 or more people
Fewer than 10 people
 
Does your business / organisation have a website?
Yes
No
 
current website address:
 
Has your website been developed to currently accepted standards of disability access as defined by the World Wide Web consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)?
Yes
No
Don’t Know
 
Would you be interested in an undertaking an Accessibility Audit to assess the current level of your web-site's disability access compliance?
Yes
No
 
Would you be interested in determining how your current website might best and most economically achieve an acceptable level of disabled access compliance?
Yes
No
 
Would you be interested in developing a website?
Yes
No
 
Would you require this web-site to conform to currently accepted standards of disability access as defined by the World Wide Web consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)?
Yes
No
 
How important are disability access issues to your organisation / business (On a scale of 1-5 with 1 as very important and 5 as of no importance).
1
2
3
4
5
 
What do you feel is the most important reason for your organisation to develop a disabled access compliant web-site?

Web Site Accessibility Fact and Fiction

Fiction: Accessibility means creating text-only pages or unattractive designs.
Fact: Nearly all access enhancements have no effect on visual design. They take place in the HTML mark-up, out of site to regular users.

Fiction: Accessibility forces you to create two versions of your site.
Fact: Not true. If you design with web standards and follow certain guidelines, your site should be accessible to screen readers, Lynx (a text-only web browser), PDAs, and older browsers as well as to modern, compliant browsers.

Fiction: Adding alt attributes to my pages will make them accessible
Fact: Adding alt tags is only a part of making web pages accessible.

Fiction: The Disability Discrimination Act is (DDA)just for Public Sector Organisations.
Fact: The DDA applies to any business or organisation providing a service, which must, under the provisions of the Act, be made available to all.

Fiction: Accessibility is "just for disabled people".
Fact: Not true. While conformance will certainly improve access for people who have major disabilities, it will also help the following: