Accessible Websites are Legally Compliant

Currently in Ireland the ‘Excellence Through Accessibility’ Draft Guidelines are available. Compliance with these guidelines are voluntary, nonetheless, they contain an explicit reference to accessible websites from an Irish Government Agency, The National Disability Authority.

One of the guidelines (guideline 14) requires that the organisation’s website is WCAG 1.0 AA compliant to be eligible for the ‘Excellence Through Accessibility’ award.

Section 27 of the Disability Act, 2005 states that services privided to the general public should also be available to the disabled.

27.—(1) Where a service is provided to a public body, the head of the body shall ensure that the service is accessible to persons with disabilities (Disability Act, 2005)

A website then, if regarded as a service, must be as available to a disabled person as it is to an able bodied person otherwise the service is discriminatory. However, this does not have to be upheld in the cases where the body providing the service deems it not to be practicable, the cost unjustifiable or the delay in making the goods or services available to other persons unreasonable.

Part 1 Section 4(1) of the Equal Status Act, Ireland, 2000 states that a failure to do all that is reasonable to provide a service to a person with a disability is deemed an act of discrimination.

4.—(1) For the purposes of this Act discrimination includes a refusal or failure by the provider of a service to do all that is reasonable to accommodate the needs of a person with a disability by providing special treatment or facilities, if without such special treatment or facilities it would be impossible or unduly difficult for the person to avail himself or herself of the service. (Equal Status Act, 2000)

Available redress includes compensation (to a maximum of €6,348.69) and an order that the problem(s) be fixed or removed.

However, Part 1 Section 4(2) of the Equal Status Act, 2000 requires that the cost of accommodating a person with a disability be ‘nominal’, so the case is far from clear cut. A nominal value to a large multinational might well be a very different amount to a nominal value as regarded by an SME.

At present, no cases regarding website access have been taken under this Act, however other countries have similar laws, under which successful cases have been taken. The most well known is that of Bruce Lindsay Maguire versus SOCOG.

The Employment Equality Act, 1998 also addresses the issue of 'reasonable accomodation'

4.—(1) For the purposes of this Act discrimination includes a refusal or failure by the provider of a service to do all that is reasonable to accommodate the needs of a person with a disability by providing special treatment or facilities, if without such special treatment or facilities it would be impossible or unduly difficult for the person to avail himself or herself of the service (Employment Equality Act, 1998)

Yet again, the cost must only be a vague 'nominal' amount.

The European Union has been proactive in developing explicit web accessibility guidelines.

A communication from the EU, eEurope 2002: Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content, on September 25th, 2001, recognised the WAI WCAG 1.0 guidelines to be the 'global de facto web accessibility standard' and concluded that both public and private websites should be encouraged to achieve accessibility during 2003, the European Year of Disabled People.

The Council Resolution eEurope Action Plan 2002 declares:

Public sector web sites and their content in Member States and in the European Institutions must be designed to be accessible to ensure that citizens with disabilities can access information and take full advantage of the potential for e-government. (eEurope Action Plan, 2002)

The timeframe for adoption of the WAI guidelines by public websites was designated to be the end of 2001.