Web Access Centre

The ethical case for web accessibility

Summary: The ethical case for accessibility refers to moral obligation, a positive move towards inclusion and responsible business practice.

• Inclusion not exclusion
• Responsible business practice
• Open for business?
• Laws and standards

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“When I went shopping in a supermarket on the internet for the first time I couldn’t believe how many varieties of chocolate biscuit there were. No one had ever told me before!” Paul, a chocoholic, blind internet user.

Inclusion not exclusion

Imagine visiting your favourite shop. You find it open for business, but all the doors are locked. How would you feel unable to open those doors even though you know they are open to others? Frustrated, angry, excluded?

This may sound ridiculous but it might not be as far-fetched as you may think. If we examine how people with different needs use websites, we may find it uncomfortably close to the truth.

People with disabilities may use a variety of access technologies in order to read your web pages. The problem is that these technologies will only work if websites support them. The way that websites are designed and built may be closing some of the doors that they should be opening.

Responsible business practice

In today’s environment corporate and social responsibility have increasingly become fundamental in building trust and reputation with the people you do business with. However, experience of closed doors on your websites can have a negative influence on the way people perceive even the most reliable companies and the strongest brands.

If information is worth publishing on the web, it is worth ensuring that everyone can access it. But what does this statement actually mean?

Fundamentally, the tools and the technology of the web all support accessibility; it is therefore the responsibility of managers, designers and ultimately the page author, to apply the techniques that allow web pages to be accessed.

Open for business?

The web has opened up many doors and possibilities for everyone, but this is especially true for people with disabilities. Due to increasing availability and widespread use of access technology, people now enjoy a level of empowerment and independence that previous generations never experienced before.

“For the first time in six years I’ve been able to complete my food shopping without sighted assistance. That felt brilliant” A blind internet user. Quote taken from research carried out by Helen Masey, on behalf of Standard Life and RNIB

Laws and standards

• The Web Accessibility Initiative
• UK law
• The Disability Discrimination Act
• Business benefits
• The ethical case

For Web Access Centre updates email webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Content author: webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 09/03/2009 16:17