LEADING web accessibility campaigners are calling for IT course developers in schools and further education to rethink their priorities, as delegates prepare for an awareness raising conference in Birmingham this month.
National charity Shaw Trust wants academics to put accessibility high on the agenda to ensure the
The issue will be raised at the February 27 information day Accessibility in 2008, organised by Shaw Trust, which helps disabled and disadvantaged people achieve work and independence, and software developers Browsealoud and Texthelp Systems Ltd, the world's leading literacy software development company.
Delegates at the Hilton Metropole Hotel hosted event will hear from industry authorities on the importance of web accessibility, see a demonstration of Browsealoud software and Shaw Trust Web Accreditation's (STWA) User Testing with adaptive technology and will be able to quiz the panel of experts in a question time session.
Shaw Trust has been providing its web accreditation service for over four years. The service, a social enterprise business, includes teams of people with disabilities using a wide range of assistive technology, who provide hands-on testing, as well as software-aided tests. Uniquely, customers have open access to watch and quiz the testing team at work on their sites. "We're about educating, not criticising our customers," said Shaw Trust's STWA Account Manager Cam Nicholl.
Texthelp has been developing assistive technology software for the learning disabled community since 1996. They will be demonstrating Browsealoud, the only truly accessible text-to-speech offering for website owners that reads all accessible website content.
Browsealoud works by speaking website content aloud, whilst highlighting the word as it is read. This combination greatly improves comprehension for those with dyslexia, literacy difficulties, mild visual impairments and those who find reading online content difficult.
Shaw Trust customers include HM Treasury, Coca-Cola, the Audit Commission, the British Standards Institute, the Lloyds of London, Health Care Commission, ICI, First Group, Thames Water, the Jumeriah group of hotels and Legal & General, as well as Gwalia Housing Association and Health Protection Agency, who are sending speakers to the Accessibility in 2008 event.
"At the Health Protection Agency, our user base is the population, in other words 60 million people. There are 10 million people who have difficulty accessing content on line and that's one sixth of the population that we need to worry about. It's a huge market for any business or organisation," said one of the speakers, Mahesh Patel, Head of Online Services at the Health Protection Agency.
Shaw Trust's Cam Nicholl, points out that quite apart from the moral imperative to make websites all-user friendly, it makes economic sense too.
"A truly accessible website is a winner in all ways, not least because it vastly increases potential custom, as well as meeting the legal requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act," she said.
"It is estimated that disabled people in the UK have an annual available spending power of some £80 billion, and research shows that accessible websites are more popular with everyone, because they are easier to use."
"Accessible websites are also more compatible with devices such as mobile phones and other hand-held browsers," added Dan Sivak, Managing Director of teaching and learning technology company CDSM Interactive Solutions and who partner Shaw Trust in providing STWA.
He points out that the most common mistakes that bar access to some people with disabilities are often small oversights that are easy to put right.
"The top most common mistake is not including alternative text on images, which is a cardinal sin because it is so easy to do," he said.
"The problem is lack of awareness, which is why this conference is so important. STWA can audit sites to spotlight problems and provide templates for website designers, but they need to be aware of the importance of accessibility in the first place.
"That is why we are urging IT course providers to ensure accessibility is high on their agenda. CDSM takes on a couple of graduates every year, who arrive with firsts and 2:1s in state-of-the-art degrees and they have to relearn this whole element when they come to us, which is surprising and shocking.
"We have to work together to ensure the internet, which is vital tool of independence for millions of people, is open to everyone."
* For more details about the Accessibility in 2008 information day, please log onto www.shaw-trust.org.uk/accessibility2008
* The accompanying press pack includes 'Confessions of a frustrated surfer', and article by Steve Lloyd, who has Athetoid Cerebral Palsy and can communicate only with one finger through a word board he devised himself. We also have a photograph available of Steve.
* THE STWA CHALLENGE TO MEDIA: Are you brave enough to let us look at your website for you, and to publish the results? We can give you a quick test.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. For further details, please contact Marketing Communications Manager Tony Noble on 07971 794404 or PR Officer Becky Gammon on 07779 784901. Or you can email: crucialpr@shaw-trust.org.uk
2. Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve independence. We do this not only by delivering government programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by campaigning to change attitudes at all levels.
3. Across the
4.Texthelp Systems Ltd is the worldwide leader of literacy software solutions provided through three core business divisions: Education, Speech Services and Publishing. Texthelp has been developing assistive technology software for the learning disabled community since 1996. The aim has always been to provide the most comprehensive cutting-edge technology available to provide inclusive education. Based in Antrim, N. Ireland and with offices in the
5. Legal & General, which reported an immediate 95% increase in customers wanting a Life quote and a 90% upswing in online Life Insurance sales, after achieving Shaw Trust Web Accreditation, put the business case for accessibility at the launch of the industry's PAS 78: 2006 Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites. Legal & General, which reported an 100% return on investing in the STWA within two months, also recorded a 30% increase in natural search engine traffic, significant improvements in their rankings in Google for all target keywords and 75% reduction in time to load a page. The time and effort needed to manage content reduced from average of 5 days to 0.5 days per job and they saved £200k per annum on site maintenance.
