PAS 78 - making web accessibility business as usual

Website commissioners confused about their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), have just received help from the British Standards Institution in the catchily titled PAS 78.  This document, launched in London at a conference on 8th March 2006, is a ‘Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites’.  The PAS (Publicly Available Specification) was commissioned by the Disability Rights Commission to provide some clarity in what has become a bit of a minefield – how to meet DDA obligations with respect to websites. 

Clients of System Concepts will be reassured to learn that the best practice enshrined in this document is exactly what we have been advising for the past five years.  The key to ensuring that you get an accessible website is to have a clear accessibility policy, which is endorsed at a senior level in the organisation.  This policy should not only indicate what level of accessibility is appropriate for your business but also set out how you plan to achieve this and over how long a period. 

PAS 78 also strongly recommends that accessibility is tackled following the same kind of user centred design process which helps ensure usability.  It therefore encourages the use of BS EN ISO 13407:1999, the standard for human centred design which System Concepts played a key part in developing, and which forms the basis for much of our usability and accessibility work.  The PAS also stresses that testing with real users with disabilities is the only way to guarantee accessible websites, no matter how many checklists or other standards are followed.  

About 150 people attended the conference and not only heard about how and why the PAS was developed but also about the business benefits of following its advice from organisations as diverse as Legal and General, Tesco and the BBC.

So there are no surprises for our clients who have been following our advice – nor indeed should there be – we have not only made sure that our advice is grounded in well accepted industry best practice but we also play a key role in developing usability standards. 

BSI is making the PAS available for £30 - a reduced price compared to comparable standards and the document can be bought from BSI (www.bsi-global.com).

For more information about how System Concepts can help make your website usable and accessible please contact us.