Study shows website access for people with disabilities very limited22nd November 2002

A two-year study on Irish websites, conducted by a team at Dublin City University, has found that at least 94% of the 159 websites tested failed to meet the minimum accessibility standard for people with disabilities, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium and not one site met the professional practice accessibility guideline.

The study, Web Accessibility in Ireland, by Dr Barry McMullin of the Research Institute for Networks and Communications Engineering (RINCE) at DCU, was funded by AIB Bank as part of its contribution to Ireland's emerging information society. The report was launched (Thursday 21 November 2002) in AIB Bankcentre by Ms Mary Hanafin, td, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for the Information Society.

"The study should be a wake-up call for government, for public agencies, for private companies, organisations and individuals," said Dr McMullin. "Other countries such as the US, the UK, Australia and Germany, have strong legislation to protect the rights of citizens with disabilities that specifically covers access to the web. We face an economic as well as a moral imperative to move on this issue as a matter of urgency."

Mr. Billy Andrews, General Manager, E-Business and Payments, AIB Bank, said: "This report is the first of its kind; our aspiration in AIB in commissioning it is that people in the IT world will use their influence to improve the opportunities and capabilities for web users with disabilities - and in doing so, vindicate the rights of all citizens to equal treatment in a digital society."

10% of the population (i.e. 400,000 people in Ireland) have a disability. For them, the web is more than just another technological toy. It can offer the potential for significant improvement in their access to products and services that the more abled community takes for granted.

The web can benefit people with different types of disability. For example:

• A deaf student may enrol in an online class where lectures and other audio materials are made available with sub-titling and full text transcripts
• A person with restricted mobility can compare prices across online shops and order a wide variety of goods for home delivery as well as availing of services such as banking and travel booking.
• A blind user can "read" books, newspapers and magazines by accessing them through a web browser equipped with automatic text to speech synthesis.

The 159 websites selected were drawn from a cross section of sites representing Government and other public sector sites, political parties, agencies with responsibilities for services to users with disabilities, educational institutions, media organisations, major Irish PLCs, travel organisations, and IT and web design/hosting companies.

The sites were tested for a selected set of 25 separate characteristics or potential defects, which correlate with the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C 1999) and are endorsed by the European Commission (2001) and the Irish National Disability Authority (2002).

The guidelines are set out under three categories: WCAG - A is a minimum standard. If this is not met one or more groups will find it impossible to access the site. WCAG - AA is a "professional practice" standard, by which sites are adjudged to be accessible to a broad range of disability groups. WCAG - AAA is a "gold standard" of maximum accessibility, which sites with a particular remit to serve communities of people with disabilities should aim to achieve.

100% of sites failed to meet the professional practice standard and 94% failed to meet the minimum standard. The types of defects detected included:

• 98.7% of sites use rigid "pixel perfect" displays: this creates barriers to flexible magnification which can significantly impair access for visually impaired users
• 90.6% of sites use visual images to convey information but don't have "text alternatives"
• 89.9% of sites have defective HTML coding that disproportionately affect users of assistive technology
• 69.8% of sites have inaccessible online forms. This tends to be particularly prevalent on e-commerce sites, which should potentially offer accessibility benefits to users with restricted mobility.

The study points out that the key to improving access for people with disabilities is in the design of the websites, so that they facilitate, rather than obstruct, its proper use.

A number of recommendations are made:

• the development of a web accessibility awareness campaign
• the introduction of legislation that sets explicit, comprehensive and legally enforceable standards for accessibility of all web products and servers to users with disabilities (through a revised Disability Bill)
• the incorporation of conformance to accessibility guidelines into web software and tools at the development stage
• the publication of a detailed timetable by all Government Department websites to achieve the professional practice WCAG accessibility standard
• the incorporation of "Universal Design" in the curriculum of all relevant educational and training programmes
• further research and development of technologies to support social inclusion in the information society

The study is summarised in the brochure, A Digital Democracy for All? which is available in electronic form at http://eaccess.rince.ie/white-papers/2002/warp-2002-01/. The full text of the study is available at http://eaccess.rince.ie/white-papers/2002/warp-2002-00/.

Ends.

For further details please contact:

Eilis O'Brien, DCU | ph: 700 5217 or 087 205 7125
Sean Carberry, Omnimedia | ph: 418 2200 or 087 256 6748