Web Site Accessibility Blog

There is positive accessibility news out of the UK today. In response to an earlier survey that found 80% of websites were unusable by assistive technology, The the Disability Rights Commission has sponsored a set of guidelines, created by the British Standards Institution for anyone creating a “public-facing” website. Called PAS-78, it is essentially a best-practices guide to commissioning, creating and managing accessible websites.

This quote jumped out at me:

“The DRC also points out that businesses with accessible websites are in a much better position to tap into the estimated £80bn spent by people with disabilities every year.”

Wow. That’s a little chunk of change, especially considering what is happening here in the US with the NFB lawsuit against Target.com. In light of that, the PAS-78 guide is not intended to be a legally binding document, but could be used to “force an organisation to improve the accessibility of its website.”

The PAS-78 document is available for £30.00 (why?) by contacting the British Standards Institution at orders@bsi-global.com.