Web Site Accessibility Blog

Francis West, IBM Worldwide Accessibility Director, wrote a great article found at ZDNet UK concerning the current accessibility law debates. European countries are considering defining, enforcing and labeling of accessibility, and many are asking them to consider the Unites States’ example of Section 508 as appended in 1998. If every country decides to create their own standards and enforcement of accessibility, then it could create a dampening affect, as products, software and innovation could suffer because of the multiple restrictions, approvals and definitions.

These actions could create different standards, and result in countries; agencies and developers arguing about whose standards are standard. But just as the Internet has no central governing authority, West suggests that accessibility should follow the same path and maintain an open dialog and collaboration.

The latest figures quoted by the article:

The World Health Organisation estimates that between 750 million and 1 billion of the world’s 6 billion people have a speech, vision, mobility, hearing or cognitive impairment.

In the US alone, more than 54 million people have disabilities. The numbers are increasing as 76 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 get older. In other developed countries, including Italy, Spain and Japan, 45 percent of the population will be over the age of 60 by the year 2040, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.