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Petition Number 10 on accessibility

Peter Abrahams By: Peter Abrahams, Practice Leader - Accessibility and Usability, Bloor Research
Published: 11th December 2006
Copyright Bloor Research © 2006
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An e-petition has gone live on the '10 Downing Street,' the British Prime Minister's website, aiming to persuade Tony Blair to ensure government complies with basic web accessibility requirements from when they are launched.

One of 892 e-petitions (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/govaccessibility/), it reads: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that any website launched by the government complies with accessibility standards (WCAG AA at least).”

I would urge anyone who is concerned about accessibility in the UK to sign; the process is secure and only takes a couple of minutes.

The petitioner, web designer and member of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS), Ian Fenn, published the plea after discovering the website of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) failed to meet basic accessibility standards despite the department's claims that it reached level AAA according to the Web Accessibility Initiative's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, following a 200,000 pound re-vamp last June.

The last attempt by Clackmannanshire Council web manager Dan Champion and Web Standards Project's Accessibility Task Force member Bruce Lawson to gain information from the DTI using Freedom of Information Law on why the lack of accessibility remained, was refused on the grounds that it would take too long and cost too much money to answer, Champion told E-Access Bulletin.

At the time of writing the plea had been signed by a few hundred people, whose names can be viewed online—I believe that the petition needs a thousand or two signatures to be credible so your name is needed.

The open petitions initiative, which went live last month, from non-profit e-democracy organisation MySociety, allows the British public to start and sign any petition on a range of topics online.

I am indebted to E-Access Bulletin for bringing this petition to my attention.

Reader Comments

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11th December 2006: 'rimsco' said:

About Time! And it's not just the ordinary websites that need accessibility, it is the application systems where no disabled person can ever be employed utilising them. Just try even talking to most government/local government IT Purchasing people about it, and why accessibility isn't included in tender requirements for IT contracts.

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13th December 2006: 'Graeme Whippy' said:

rimsco, you're absolutely right! Focus on accessibility is invariably placed on public websites with Intranets and internal applications (both web based and traditional) an afterthought.

The same stick (DDA) and carrots (commercial, technical, usability) apply, the commercial carrot being the ability for employers to recruit from the widest possible pool of talent and retain that talent.

Procurement is the key and is still a battleground as suppliers still (generally) don't 'get it'. However, this will change if people start putting more pressure on suppliers regarding accessibility requirements during procurement.

The Employer's Forum on Disability has just published advice and guidance on this at their Realising Potential website, http://www.realising-potential.org/news/procurement

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