United Kingdom

The British Standards Institute is inviting website owners, web
product managers, web procurement managers, usability and
accessibility specialists, marketing professionals and disabled
web users, to review and comment on the draft of a new standard on accessible websites.

The National Standards Body of the UK is developing the new code of practice  
DPC BS 8878 Web accessibility – Code of Practice
, to ensure the web is more accessible to elderly and disabled users.

OPINION: The UK's law on web accessibility is being re-written in an apparent attempt to make it impenetrable. But even though algebra has replaced plain
English, the duty to make information accessible to disabled people survives, thanks to a blind peer.

The Equality Bill is nearing the end of its Parliamentary journey. It is likely to be in force in October, at which time it will replace the Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA) in England, Scotland and Wales.

A new study suggests that some of the UK's online retailers are not taking the issue of accessibility seriously enough, with progress seeming to stall,
according to a new study.

Last year, Webcredible's Accessibility Report gave the websites of 20 UK high street retailers an average score of 62%, but this year the score has slipped to 60%.

Persons with disabilities are now gaining recognition among companies. Blind individuals have proven that they can perform well in jobs requiring speaking and hearing skills. People with hearing impairments have displayed much efficiency in working on printed and electronic documents.

However, persons with disabilities still face much difficulty in finding a suitable job. A lot of companies are still reluctant to hire disabled people, although they may be well qualified for a specific job.

Nevertheless, it is a fact that there are a handful of reasons why hiring persons with disabilities is a good idea.

Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom is leading the way in web accessibility with its current case study, Accessibility – A Learning Imperative , that examines ways to model best practice for accessibility in web design. Originally restricted to the field of correspondence courses, virtual learning environments have now become a key feature of education programs across primary, secondary and university sectors and planning for accessibility remains a key concern.

Employment tribunals and courts in the United Kingdom have held Website operators liable for disability discrimination with regards to accessibility to such Websites. A court is empowered to order compliance with United Kingdom (UK) or World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards and can award damages to
victims. The U.K. Equality and Human Rights Commission also enforces Website accessibility requirements.

Websites in U.K. are required to meet accessibility standards under Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). The Disability Discrimination Act 2005, amending the 1995 Act, introduced a Disability Equality Duty (DED) for providers of public Websites. Information technology (IT) systems are example of services to which DED applies.

The John Lewis Partnership and Boots were the winners in the latest annual web site accessibility test from user experience consultancy Webcredible.

The firm's 2009 Ecommerce Accessibility Report analysed the sites of 19 leading UK high street retailers, evaluating them against 20 best practice guidelines and awarding a score out of five for each.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) is calling on digital marketers to review its proposed standard for accessible web content.

It's planning to introduce the standard next April to give marketers a clear outline of commissioning and creating accessible websites. The BSI is inviting marketers to comment on a draft version throughout December and January.

The issue of website accessibility could be thrown into the spotlight in the UK following the settlement of a case in the US, it has been claimed.

Retailer Target was sued by a group of disabled web users who could not use the company's website with their usual screen-reading software.

A number of the UK's biggest retailers still need to do more to improve website
accessibility for users with disabilities, it has been claimed.

Retail Bulletin commissioned a study to be carried out by Sitemorse
to examine the performance of the top 100 retail websites in the UK, with the findings suggesting that some sites continue to fail disabled web users.