The UK Cabinet Office has urged the public sector to make its Web sites more accessible and usable to everyone, regardless of any disabilities.
A senior digital media consultant from the e-Government Unit, Tom Adams, told a Government Computing conference audience in London that much more needs to be done.
"As service owners, the public sector has a legal duty to anticipate the needs of the disabled user," he said. "It should go to reasonable efforts to make sure that the service is usable."
He said there is a need to make Web sites useable as well as accessible, and that achieving accessibility can be done easily and inexpensively if properly planned from the beginning. Councils not doing so already should use the widely recognised European Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and British adapted version, Guidelines for UK Government Web sites , he said on Thursday.
Adams referred to the findings of the Disability Rights Commission report into Web accessibility issued in April 2004. It claimed that blind people had the most difficulty accessing information within Web sites, whilst in descending order, partially sighted people, and those with dyslexia, physical and hearing impairments also struggled.
The Web, Access and Inclusion for Disabled People report recommends that any accessibility issues should be sorted out immediately rather than waiting for the next development cycle.
A representative of the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) acknowledged that a number of local authority Web sites do not meet accessibility guidelines, but said that many councils are working towards it.
"We work with a lot of local authorities to make their Web sites accessible through our See it Right logo scheme," said Henny Swan, Web accessibility consultant at RNIB. "It has been a legal requirement since 1999 and many are working to make their sites accessible. Those that have achieved this level of accessibility have the "See it Right" logo.
"Things are getting there, but it is an ongoing process," she said regarding the progress being made by local authorities. "It's an awareness issue, but it is slowly getting better."
