Compliance

Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) & web accessibility

There seems to be widespread speculation about the legislation introduced under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which ensures that websites are accessible to blind / visualy impaired, hard of hearing and disabled users. Try to find specific information about what the law requires you to do and chances are you'll come up empty handed.
The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission), two of the most renowned advocates for the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and accessible websites, have no specific information about the laws and what websites specifically need to do in order to meet the legal requirements.

What does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) state?

Part III of the DDA refers to the provision of goods, facilities and services. The Code of Practice which specifically mentions websites, can be downloaded in its entirety from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.
The relevant quotes from the 175-page Code of Practice are:

• 2.2 (p7): “The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public”

• 4.7 (p39): “From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.”

• 2.13 - 2.17 (p11-13): “What services are affected by the Disability Discrimination Act? An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website.This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.”

• 5.23 (p71): “For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible include... accessible websites.”

• 5.26 (p68): “For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include... accessible websites.”

When did the DDA come into force?

It's widely believed that the new laws were implemented in October 2004, when the final part of the DDA came into force. This final piece of legislation actually referred to service providers having to consider making permanent physical adjustments to their premises and is not related to the Internet in any way.

Section III of the DDA, which refers to accessible websites, came into force on 1st October 1999 and the Code of Practice for this section of the DDA was published on 27th May 2002. This means that the majority of websites have been in breach of the law for several years.

Can you be sued?

Well, basically, yes. The RNIB has approached some large companies with regard to their websites. When they raised the accessibility issues of their websites under the DDA, those companies made the necessary changes, in exchange for anonymity, rather than facing the prospect of legal action.

The DRC launched a formal investigation into 1000 websites, of which over 80% were next to impossible for disabled people to use. They issued a stern warning that organisations will face legal action under the DDA and the threat of unlimited compensation payments should they fail to make their websites accessible for people with disabilities.

Do you comply with the DDA?

It's widely believed that if, or perhaps more appropriately when, a case makes it to court that the W3C accessibility guidelines will be used to assess a website's accessibility status and ultimately decide the outcome of the case. The W3C is the Internet governing body and its web accessibility guidelines can be found on its website.
To further complicate matters, the W3C offers three different levels of compliance.

Priority 1 guidelines

A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

Priority 2 guidelines

A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

Priority 3 guidelines

A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

Each Priority is awarded an "A" level rating. So Priority 1 is "Level A". Priority 1 and 2 is "Level AA". Priority 1, 2 and 3 is "Level AAA". Currently only "Level A" is actually required by law, but Pentagon Star Ltd wil endeavour to acheive "AA Level" compliance status for all its clients.

The courts will also no doubt take guidance from the outcome of an Australian case in 2000, when a blind man successfully sued the Sydney Olympics organising committee over their inaccessible website. (The Australian Disability Discrimination Act quite closely resembles that of the UK's.) UK courts may also take into account the New York case against Ramada.com and Priceline.com, who were also successfully sued over the accessibility of their websites.