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DDA AUDITBecause it's legal and makes business sense |
Simple accessibility test
The Well Adjusted Campaign has announced a draft of its ten 'reasonable adjustments', as required by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, to make online and printed media accessible to people with communication difficulties.
An employer should provide employees with a disability with services that allow them to do their job, where this does not impose unjustifiable hardship on the employer. This is referred to as a 'reasonable adjustment'.
The campaign, which was launched on 5 May 2006, has brought together representatives from the British Dyslexia Association, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, 2080 partners and a growing number of 'Champions of inclusion' including Sir Jackie Stewart OBE and Big Issue founder John Bird MBE.
The campaign states:
'Research by the Disability Rights Commission found that 80% of UK websites are inaccessible and that business welcomed clear guidance. The aim of the Well Adjusted Campaign is to help provide this guidance. In proposing ten draft reasonable adjustments it aims to help all organisations and companies comply with the law, and meet the needs of their customers, colleagues and community.'
The ten reasonable adjustments are as follows.
1. Letter shape and size
- Is it big enough and legible?
- Does it meet British Dyslexia Association and Royal National Institute of the Blind style guidelines?
2. Sense
- Is it Plain English?
3. Navigation
- Can I find my way around with or without physical or hidden difficulties like dyslexia?
- Is it W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Approved?
4. Design
- Is it great design or does it confuse your stakeholders - have you asked?
- Does it offer British Dyslexia Association colour and contrast options?
5. Appearance
- Does it 'move' on the page if you have dyslexia or visual stress?
- Do you lose it on the page with distracting messages and extraneous information if you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or sight issues?
6. Sound
- If you can't read easily or at all can you listen to it?
- Is it speech enabled or does it have a 'Talk-bar' audio reader?
7. Definition
- Is there access to a dictionary, thesaurus (for those who need alternatives not a definition), jargon guide, acronym guide or do you get 'oops' if you are searching for a word on a website?
8. Language
- In a world of multiple languages are you making the effort to translate written and aural language for large sections for your customers and staff?
- Does it pass the foreign language translation guidelines? Less than 5% of the Fortune 500 Companies pass by using Spanish alternative text.
9. Right to Reply
- What about writing and responding when faced with communication difficulties?
- Can people reply or comment or fill in forms easily?
10. The 4 New P's
- Do you have organisational policies, programmes, practices and research panels for your hidden differences stakeholders?
- Would you like to have the right senior people trained to meet the above Top 10 Reasonable Adjustments?
The campaigners are asking people to further 'refine' and 'define' these adjustments on their website at www.welladjusted.org.uk (opens a new window). They announced the 'final' version of their 'reasonable adjustments' on 10 October 2006.