Website accessibility. Hmm. Imagine if you decided that you didn't want chartered accountants to view your website. You could put a big message up on your home page saying 'By clicking 'enter' I certify that I am not, nor have I ever been, a qualified accountant'. Or you could just be really rude to them over the phone.
It's a bit like that when you make your site inaccessible to disabled folk. Which is a big mistake. Cos disabled people in the UK have a disposable income of more than £50 million a year. Their family and friends have spending power of over £100 million. That's more than seven Minis. Website accessibility is a Big Thing.
Disability Discrimination Act
Yes, it's probably not a great idea to ignore this somewhat loaded segment of society. Particularly as the law is behind them. Yep, these days the Disability Discrimination Act bats on behalf of disabled consumers.
At I-COM, we're big on website accessibility. We can build specially designed websites for disabled Internet users. An accessible website would show that your company is not 'deliberately ignoring' disabled people as described in The Disability Discrimination Act, Chapter 50, which deals with communication and information services:
'It is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person in refusing to provide, or deliberately not providing, to the disabled person any service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public.'
90% not accessible
OK, website accessibility doesn't mean fitting your site with ramps. But over 90% of UK business and e-commerce sites are not accessible to disabled users. So, let's face it ? how much of a competitive advantage would website accessibility be for you?
Common problems include failing to use text tags to describe images that can't be read with Braille displays, or poor contrast on background text. You should also make it easy to navigate with keystrokes, for those motor-impaired people who find it hard to use a mouse.
Ten per cent of the UK population has a disability. You can't afford to ignore them, so call I-COM today on 0800 072 8717 or email us.
