DRC Investigation Finds Public Websites 'Impossible' for Disabled People
From: PublicTechnology.net - 04/16/2004

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in the United Kingdom has condemned
Web developers and online companies for throwing up the same barriers to
access for disabled people as exist in the physical world. The results of the
study and the DRC's recommendations show that the Web could be made much more
accessible to disabled users at relatively modest expense compared to what is
required for physical services. The DRC report was compiled with the help of
City University's Center for Human Computer Interaction Design in London, and
surveyed 1,000 public-facing Web sites. An automated test of the 1,000 Web
sites showed 81 percent did not meet minimum accessibility requirements as
defined by the World Wide Web Consortium and that the average home page
presented 108 barriers to access for disabled persons, including complex page
structures, disorienting navigation, undescribed images, and little contrast
between background and content. Disabled users further evaluated 100 of the
Web sites, finding that more than a quarter of the most basic tasks were
difficult or impossible for some users. Blind users were the most
disenfranchised, even when using screen reader technology. Of the 400 Web
developers surveyed, only 9 percent said they had expertise in accessibility
while another 9 percent said they used disabled users to test their site's
accessibility. DRC Chairman Bert Massie said that while the Web promised
equal access, it so far had failed disabled people by keeping them from
participating in online discussion, from job opportunities found online,
convenient consumer services, and cheaper goods and services. Legal
requirements for equal access are already on the books in the United Kingdom,
and Massie said it was only a matter of time before disabled people brought
legal challenges to noncompliant companies. 

http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=870