Accessibility
A report by the Disability Rights Commission in 2004 estimated that 81% of websites are inaccessibile to the disabled and visually impaired. 9.8 million people in the UK population have a disability which prevents them from using these websites.
We think it is important that everyone can use your website for maximum exposure. To achieve this, there are simple steps that we carry out during site creation which are invisible to many users but make a lot of difference to others.
Peach Web Services strive for websites to be "AAA" compliant with WAI guidelines.
Legal Implications
The Disability Discrimination Act (1999) (DDA) Part III stated that any services offered to the public, including websites, could not discriminate against a person with a disability.
An update to the Act in October 2004 underlined this by removing exemption for small employers. All employers are now legally obliged to make all their services accessible including websites, intranets and extranets. Only the Armed Forces are exempt.
Although no court action has been taken in the UK, a precedent was set in Australia which is likely to be used in other countries.
An additional Act, Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) relates specifically to education
Peach Web Services is a member of the Guild of Accessible Web Developers