Last week, the Royal National Institute for the Blind confirmed that it is supporting a number of individuals in cases against companies which are failing to make websites available to visually impaired users.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act, passed in 1995, all organisations are required to make reasonable adjustments to their systems to allow people with disabilities to access them. The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against disabled people in employment and in the provision of goods, services, facilities and premises.
Suzanne Mercer, a partner in IT and e-commerce practice at law firm Eversheds, said litigation has already been successful in the US and Australia and was inevitable in the UK. She warned companies to address the issue.
“Litigation will particularly apply when people who cannot use websites are excluded from financial incentives, such as when low-cost airlines offer cheaper flights online rather than over the phone,” she said.
The RNIB said it could not release details of the action as it is at an early stage, but said there are steps companies should take to avoid similar problems.
For example, said Margaret O’Donnell, website manager at the RNIB, companies need to put pressure on their software suppliers to ensure they are addressing accessibility issues.
“A lot of web designers still do not know a lot about accessibility, which you cannot get with out-of-the-box software products.
“We heavily customised [our website software] as nobody had really done anything in this way before. It is also important to keep the pressure on moving forward.”
Online accessibility for disabled, deaf and visually impaired users has come under the spotlight in recent months since the Disability Rights Commission began an investigation into 1,000 UK sites.
