Accessibility and the Law

Since October 1999, service providers have been obliged to alter a policy, practice or procedure which prevents a disabled person accessing a service.

The majority of web sites have been in breach of the law for over six years.

There have been no prosecutions yet in the UK but the RNIB have settled out of court with a number of companies over web site compliance.  In Australia, which has a similar Disability Act to the UK, the Sydney Olympics organising committee was famously sued over their inaccessible web site.  There has also been a case against travel sites in the USA, where legislation is weaker than in the UK, known as Section 508.