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NEW REPORT SHOWS 97 PER CENT OF WEBSITES ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST USERS WITH DISABILITES, DESPITE LEGAL LEGISLATIONS
An Accesibility Agency that has been investigating how easy websites are to access by users with disabilities, has concluded that most of webdesigners are failing to produce sites in line with the minimum levels of accessebility for all. Commissioned by the United Nations as part of its International Day of Disabled Persons,Nomensa investigated many of the world’s leading sites,taking a sample from five different sectors in 20 countries. The sectors studied included : travel,retail,banking,goverment and media. In the UK, the brands under scrutiny were : British Airways, Marks and Spencer’s, Lloyds TSB, the British PM’s site and the Guardian. Among the portfolio of statistics it was revealed that 93 per cent failed to provide adequate text descriptions for graphics, 78 per cent used colours with poor cotrast causing issues for colour blind sufferers, 97 per cent denied the ability to resize pages and 89 per cent offered poor navigation. “It’s important fot commercial, legal and moral reasons that websites put in place a strategy for accessibility,” urges Alex Metcalfe, Nomensa’s head of client services, “both in terms of quick wins and longer term improvements”. The World Health Organization has slammed web designers failing to meet the grade,claiming that around 10 per cent of the world’s population suffers from disability.