CEMIT Ireland

Accessibility issues

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) makes it illegal for a website provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide a service that is generally available, providing a service of a lower standard, or failing to comply with a duty to make reasonable adjustments.

Accessibility guidance

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has produced a number of accepted guidelines, which are divided into three priorities:

• priority 1 - websites must comply otherwise some users will find it impossible to access the site
• priority 2 - websites should comply, otherwise some users will find it difficult to access the site
• priority 3 - websites may comply, otherwise some users will find it somewhat difficult to access the site

Reasonable adjustment

The DDA requires a business to make 'reasonable adjustments'. The website owner must:

• change a practice, policy or procedure that makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use the service
• provide an auxiliary aid or service if it would enable (or make it easier) for disabled people to use the service

Making websites accessible

There are many adjustments you can make to your website to make it easier for disabled people to use. For example, your web designer can attach a text description to every image and link on the site. This means that blind users, who rely on a browser that reads out the contents of the webpage, can hear a description of what an image is and where a link will take them.

Checking if your site is accessible

There are a number of tools and services that can help you check that your site is accessible.