Websites failing disabled surfers

An investigation into the accessibility of the internet has slammed the majority of websites for being unusable for disabled would-be web surfers.

Deaf, blind and dyslexic users are all being let down badly by the majority of website designers and online publishers, who fail to take into account their special needs, according to the report.

The bitterest irony is that the disabled, along with the elderly, have the most to gain from the internet and its virtual ability to bring products and services into the home.

The Disabled Rights Commission singled out websites such as online travel agents and banks as being particularly remiss because they have the potential to save disabled customers trips to the high street but are failing to do so.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Bert Massie, the chairman of the DRC, said: "Eight in 10 sites are next to impossible for some disabled people to use."

"That means no last-minute holidays, cheaper car insurance [nor] lower rates of interest on credit cards," he added.

However, some major websites have taken strides to include versions of their sites for visually impaired consumers. A spokeswoman for Amazon.com told silicon.com that its text-only site "is designed to work with text-only and text-to-speech browsers", which means partially-sighted and blind shoppers can still use the site. She added that it's been "very well received".

And Struan Robertson, an associate solicitor at law firm Masons, says many more companies are going to have to follow suit or risk legal action for discrimination under accessibility laws introduced in 1999 and clarified in 2002 that spell out the obligations that websites have to meet.

According to Robertson, the Royal National Institute for the Blind brought two such cases of discrimination last year - one against a FTSE 100 company - and in both cases the disputes were settled out of court with a condition of anonymity for the companies concerned.

Although the laws haven't been tested in the courts, Robertson said it is only a matter of time and when it happens other companies will sit up and take note.

"As soon as somebody does get sued, there will be a much higher level of awareness," he added, as companies will be scared into getting their own site into order, by fears of fines, compensation and "negative PR".

The Disabled Rights Commission recommends a number of measures that will make resolving the issue the shared responsibility of businesses, charities, developers, governments, schools, support networks and web designers and publishers.

Measures include encouraging training programmes to educate web designers on the need for accessibility and the ways in which the disabled can use the web.

The government is being urged to raise public and private sector awareness of the problems and the need to improve them while companies are being urged to include disabled people in the planning process and testing stage of websites.

The report also recommends that more should be done by support networks and charities to educate disabled end users about ways in which they can optimise their browsers and what technology they can use to improve their web surfing experience. Similarly companies producing operating systems, such as Microsoft, are being urged to make accessibility options even clearer and easier to find.

Full recommendations of the report can be read here.