Are web sites deceiving the disabled on accessibility?

But Government sites are still doing much better than the private sector when it comes to web accessibility. In addition to its tests of those claiming to be compliant, web testing specialist SciVisum surveyed the sites of 105 leading UK organisations that make no such claim. It found that 79% failed basic compliance checks.

All travel and financial services web sites tested failed to comply with the lowest standard, while high street retailers and utilities had failure rates of more than 90%.

The significance of failing to make a web site accessible is two-fold: it effectively bars millions of disabled people, and it potentially breaks the country's Disability Discrimination Act.

In testing those sites that claim to be compliant, SciVisum found a 53% failure rate in central government web sites, followed closely by local government and private sector organisations, where 50% of sites failed. The best performers were not-for-profit organisations with only 24% of sites failing.

According to SciVisum, many of the sites had minor failures occurring in one or two instances, which were likely to be the result of web site changes implemented by untrained staff or genuine oversights. However, a large number had more serious failings – in all, 27% of sites failed on multiple checkpoints.

CEO Deri Jones commented:

"The SciVisum study indicates that either self-regulation is not working in practice or that organisations are relying too heavily on automated web site testing. Semi-automated accessibility testing on web sites by experienced engineers needs to become a standard practice for UK web site owners.

"Only manual tests can help identify areas of improvement, which are impossible to identify with automated checks alone. Unless sites are tested site-wide in this way failure rates amongst those that are claiming to be compliant will continue."

Jones described as "appalling" the failure of leading UK companies to achieve the most basic level of conformance, accusing them of "slamming the door in the face of a highly receptive on-line market." He points out that there are an estimated 1.7 million blind and partially sighted people in the UK alone.

About disabled access to web sites

Disabled access is about making web sites usable by those with disabilities such as sensory or mobility problems. A visually impaired internet user can use a screen reader to translate the contents of web pages for speech synthesisers or Braille displays; but the user will struggle to understand web pages if, for example, images are displayed on the page without a text alternative (which can be provided in HTML by an ALT tag).

The legal obligation is found in the UK's Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, which states that it is unlawful for "a provider of services" to discriminate against a disabled person in failing to comply with its provisions.

The most common flaw identified in the SciVisum survey was the failure to provide equivalent text for visual content, found on 68% of sites. Secondly, the study found that 63% of sites used JavaScript for important content or functions without providing an accessible alternative. If a user's browser does not support JavaScript then the user cannot access those elements of the site. Nine percent of sites surveyed by SciVisum depended on the user having JavaScript to view the site at all.

Other errors included the failure to use useful equivalent text for images, the use of frame technology without titling the frames, and the lack of provision of basic HTML equivalents to describe Flash content.

Web Accessibility Initiative

Nobody knows for certain what level of disabled access is actually required of UK web sites. However, there is consensus that the best practice is to comply at least with a minimum accessibility level defined by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C.

This standards-setting body was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the World Wide Web. The W3C has a Web Accessibility Initiative, or WAI, which provides three conformance levels. These are known as Priority 1, 2 and 3 (they are also known as Levels A, AA and AAA).

According to the W3C, a web site must satisfy Priority 1 - otherwise some users will find it impossible to access the site. The W3C considers that a web site should satisfy Priority 2; otherwise some users will find it difficult to access the site. Finally, a site may satisfy Priority 3, otherwise some users will find it somewhat difficult to access the site.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, SciVisum made a number of broad recommendations to improve the accessibility of web sites:

Train all staff involved in uploading information to the web site in basic web accessibility requirements;

Write an accessibility policy and make this available on your web site so that users are clearly made aware of which accessibility features your web site supports;

Perform accessibility tests before and after web sites changes have been made to identify failure areas and validate compliance;

Adopt a regular test programme to ensure ongoing future compliance; and

Use independent testers experienced in accessibility testing and do not rely on automated test software or services.

Editor's note: We are now working to improve the level of accessibility of OUT-LAW.COM. We have already carried out accessibility work on our sister site, About Cookies.

You can request a free copy of the 14-page report at SciVisum's site.