Accessibility

What is accessibility?

An accessible website or intranet is one that everyone can use. It lets people with all kinds of issues access the site, for example those who have:

  • Visual impairment or blindness
  • Physical disabilities (eg. motor impairment that prevents people using a mouse)
  • Colour blindness (which affects 8% of men and 1% of women)
  • Hearing impairments (important when there’s sound on your site)
  • Cognitive impairment or reading problems
  • Limited hardware or software, including small-screen devices as well as older equipment
  • Low-speed connections to the Internet.

Why it’s important

Designing your web site so it’s accessible ensures that it’s accessible for all users. For instance, if your site requires the latest browser or a fast internet connection, users with older computers or slow connections won’t be able to use your information effectively, if at all. That may include large numbers of fit and healthy people in rural and regional areas.

Also, more than 20% of Australians (or 3.9 million people) have some form of disability, with similar percentages in other countries. (See the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.) 

For people with disabilities, often the only efficient way to obtain certain information and services is online. For example, people with visual impairments find online shopping much easier than going to a supermarket.

Of course, as well as being poor business practice, it’s illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. (See the Australian Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes.)

What it does for you

Organisations who make their sites as accessible as possible are more likely to be regarded positively by the wider community. You also avoid the potential bad publicity your organisation might attract, for example if there’s a legal case mounted against you for discrimination.

You also win an additional segment of customers who would otherwise either buy from your competitors, or use your offline channels, increasing the cost to your organisation of servicing them.

What we do

We can conduct an accessibility review to find out how easy it is for users with specific needs to use the content and functionality on your web site or intranet.

We can:

  • assess your site against the W3C guidelines and Australian web standards
  • conduct an expert review of the site to see whether it is not just accessible for people with disabilities, but also usable
  • test the site with representative users, to see whether in a real-world context the site operates properly.

What you get

After our work is complete, you’ll receive a findings report. This sets out all the issues we’ve uncovered, with recommendations for improvement.