Websites
Legislation/regulations
Web accessibility has been addressed in response to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). An Advisory Note on compliance with the DDA produced by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) specifies that the provision of information and online services through the Worldwide Web is a service covered by the DDA. This requires that equal access is provided for people with disabilities where it can be reasonably provided. The DDA covers both public and private sector websites in Australia, though the effect of the Act is somewhat stronger for public sector organistions because they cannot avail of the ‘unjustifiable hardship’ defence.
The HREOC’s advisory note on the DDA explains universal design and recognises the WCAG 1.0 Guidelines. It explains the exception of ‘unjustifiable hardship’ in relation to website accessibility, for example, that stylistic considerations are not likely to be considered justifiable hardship.
In 1999, a complaint was brought to the HREOC that the Sidney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games’ (SOCOG) Olympic website was inaccessible (Maguire vs. SOCOG). The Commission ruled in the complainants favour and required the SOCOG to make their website accessible. The Commission found that retrofitting the Olympic website would not cause an unjustifiable hardship.
Other initiatives
The Government made a commitment in 2000 that all government departments and agencies would implement minimum website standards. The 2003 Guide to Minimum Website Standards incorporates the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Websites are to follow the W3C guidelines to a sufficient extent that they pass recognised tests of accessibility i.e. priority one level of guidelines must be followed. Reporting was initially required, though there are no sanctions.
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We are interested in receiving any corrections and/or additional information that may help us to update or improve our understanding of the current state of affairs in this country concerning the accessibility of web sites. This may concern information on relevant legislation, other policies and/or the level of accessibility actually achieved. Please enter your contribution in the “Leave a Reply” box below or send an e-mail to meac at empirica dot com.
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