Press Centre

81 per cent of UK websites failing disabled people

Summary: RNIB calls for websites to be user-friendly for disabled

---

14 April 2004

RNIB is calling on businesses, the Government, and the web design industry to make their web sites user-friendly for people with sight problems and other disabilities. The call follows a report published today (14 April 2004) which reveals that 81 per cent of UK web sites fail to meet even the most basic accessibility requirements for disabled people.

RNIB warmly welcomes the publication of the report by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) which highlights a need for more Government resource to be directed towards initiatives that help businesses ensure their web sites are usable by disabled people.

A DRC Investigation studied one thousand sites to arrive at a set of recommendations on how web sites can be made easier for disabled people to use. Fifteen recommendations have been published in the report of the DRC Formal Investigation into Web Accessibility.

Julie Howell, Digital Policy Development Officer at RNIB, said: “Businesses have a social responsibility as well as a legal duty to ensure that disabled people can use their web sites. Add to this the compelling business case (there are 8.7 million disabled people in the UK). The DRC findings would indicate that there is a need for additional Government initiatives and resources to make businesses aware of what they must do to reach disabled customers.”

The DRC recommendation that the Government should ‘facilitate the establishment of a code of practice for accessible web site development’ is being strongly endorsed by RNIB.

RNIB provides resources that help businesses develop an understanding of how disabled customers can be reached:

• an online Web Access Centre packed with information and guidance
• a web site auditing service
• a consultancy service to help businesses tap into a market with a revenue potential of £45bn per year
• RNIB’s ‘See it Right’ award, a symbol that indicates that a web site has been designed to be usable by disabled people.

In response to the DRC report RNIB is announcing additional measures:

• a series of regional seminars for businesses that wish learn about web accessibility policy, featuring practical demonstrations of the technology blind and partially sighted people use to read web sites
• RNIB is investigating the feasibility of creating a ‘social firm’ that will provide web site developers with ready access to blind and partially sighted people to feedback on web site designs.

Julie Howell added, “RNIB urges businesses to consider the practical improvements that can be made to their web sites to ensure disabled people can enjoy the same quality of experience on the web as everyone else.”

Back to accessibility press releases

Content author: pressoffice@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 20/11/2008 11:13