MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Below are the results of the MeAC eAccessibility status measurement for Australia.

Websites

The MeAC survey assessed the accessibility of a similar sample of 12 key websites in each of the EU Member States, as well as the USA, Canada and Australia. These included 6 key public websites (national government, national parliament, and key ministries such as social, employment, health and education) and 6 key sectoral/commercial websites (e.g. railways, TV, newspapers, retail banking). All websites were evaluated against WCAG 1.0 Level A criteria, including both automatic and manual evaluation. (For methodological details see Annex II of the project report).

The results for Australia, as measured in 2007, were as follows:

• none of the selected public websites passed even the automatic evaluation
• 1 out of 6 of the sectoral/commercial websites passed the automatic evaluation

Telecoms

Utilization of telecoms services and equipment can pose a variety of accessibility challenges for different disability groups. For the purposes of the MeAC study the availability of a number of selected accessibility provisions was surveyed in each of the 27 countries. In Australia the following situation was identified in 2007:

• The main emergency number (112 or other) was directly accessible by means of text telephones
• A text relay service was available. A video relay service was not available
• Both of the two main mobile telephony operators provided eAccessibility-related information to customers with disabilities via their website. One of them offered models that are labeled as hearing aid compatible via their online sales channels
• Both of the two main landline telephony operators provided eAccessibility-related information to customers with disabilities via their website. Both also offered models that are labeled as hearing aid compatible via their oinline sales channels

Broadcasting

To ensure that people with disabilities can access and enjoy TV broadcast programs in the same manner as everyone else, a variety of accessibility provisions need to be made available, including subtitling and sign language interpretation for people with hearing impairments and audio description for people with vision impairments. As regards their availability in Australia, the following situation was found by the MeAC study in 2007:

• No data are available from the broadcasters on the amount of access services broadcast in 2006. Therefore, the quotas required to be achieved according to current legislation are used for the purposes of this study. Of the two main public TV channels,
  • both provided national language programs with subtitling. In terms of volumes, the broadcaster’s programs provided with subtitling amounted to 55% of its overall national language programming
  • neither provided any programs with signing
  • neither provided any programs with audio description
  • Information about the TV access services provided was made available on the public broadcaster’s website and via teletext
• No data are available from the commercial broadcasters on the amount of access services broadcast in 2006. Therefore, the quotas required to be achieved according to current legislation are used for the purposes of this study. Of the two main commercial TV channels,
  • both provided national language programs with subtitling. In terms of volumes, the broadcaster’s programs provided with subtitling amounted to 55% of its overall national language programming
  • neither provided any programs with signing
  • neither provided any programs with audio description

Self-service terminals

The utilisation of standard self-service terminals can pose various accessibility challenges to different groups. In the banking sector, for instance, automatic teller machines (ATMs) which are designed to meet the needs of vision impaired people are now being manufactured. Usually referred to as “talking” ATMs, such machines have a voice output option via headphones and/or external loud speakers.

As regards the availability of such banking terminals in Australia, the following situation was found by the MeAC study in 2007:

• Both of the two main retail banks operating in the country have installed talking ATMs. By mid 2007, 1700 of 2200 ATMs deployed by one bank had “talking” capability. All 1300 ATMs operated by the other bank were “talking” machines. One bank provided information on the location of “talking” ATMs via their website
• According to available information, other banks had also deployed “talking” ATMs in Australia at that time

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