Accessibility
Who do accessible websites affect?
It is important to understand that web accessibility is not just about access to websites by disabled people. It is also important for:
- People who use Mobile phones, PDAs, pocket PCs and Palms to access the web
- People who have temporary impairments such as a broken arm which will temporarily affect their mobility
- People behind secure firewalls that can block scripting languages, even commonly used ones such as JAVA.
- Older People (silver surfers) who might have minor vision, mobility or hearing problems.
- Any organisation which wants to maximise its profile in the community and attract disabled service users
- Organisations that want to use their website to share information of any kind with the widest possible range of people
Facts and Figures
- Approximately 32% of people using accessibility options or assistive technology do so for ease of use, comfort and convenience. They have no physical difficulty or impairment.
- Online businesses are potentially loosing out on £50 - £60 billion per year
- An accessible website:
- is up to 35% easier to use for everyone
- will reach up to a 10% wider audience
- are generally cheaper to run
- is device / platform independent so will work on devices such as mobile phones, Blackberrys and PDAs.
- improves search engine rankings
- satisfied an organisation's responsibility to be socially responsible, thus improving its reputation
- makes it easier to change in the future - the complete look and feel of a website can be changed by just changing the style sheet.
- An investigation into website accessibility for the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) found that 81% of 1000 websites tested across the public, private and voluntary sector in the UK did not meet minimum accessibility standards.
- A conservative estimate is that between 1.3 and 3.2 million disabled people in the UK have problems with inaccessible websites.
Please note: This figure does not take into account: - People with Dyslexia (approximately 6 million)
- People with literacy issues (approximately 17 million)
- People whose first language is not English
- Older population
This portion of the population represent a spending power of approximately £15 billion/year.
You can download more information about why we should make sure all websites are accessible in a Word document here (6 pages, 62kb).
