Policy Pointers

The transfer of legal responsibility onto website producers to make  
electronic products accessible leads into the discussion of which 
software package produces the most accessible web sites. 

It also raises the question of; if governments begin policing web sites 
is it their responsibility to offer up the tools for accessibility 
validation?




-- Resources regarding UK legislation --



1. Disability Discrimination Act - A brief guide
http://www.disability.gov.uk/dda/act.html


2. Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 
Read the legislation first hand
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm


3. Office of the e-Envoy
Guidelines for UK Government websites
http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm


4. TechDis 
JISC service aimed at enhancing ICT access 
http://www.techdis.ac.uk/ 

	4.1  a quick summary of the legislation as it relates to ICT at:
	http://www.techdis.ac.uk/news/smbp15.pdf


The new law will requires 'reasonable adjustments' be made  
to websites so that they are inclusive to all wishing to access  
resources contained within a domain. In terms of website accessibility 
the following is considered best practice :

·	Websites should meet W3C WAI priority 1& 2 guidelines 
·	Validate all HTML & CSS with validation software 

The legislation isn't specific as it relates to ICT which means that 
this is a 'case law' type of legislation which will depend on 
precedents in court opinion on a case by case basis.











---------
grace.de-la-flor@bristol.ac.uk
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
University of Bristol
8-10 Berkeley Square, Bristol BS8 1HH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 7184, Fax: +44 (0)117 928 7112
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ and http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/id/ 

Received on Friday, 14 December 2001 11:38:01 UTC