Website accessibility

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requires service providers to ensure that disabled users are not disadvantaged by designs which fail to take account of their needs. We have extensive experience of assessing and testing websites and other digital media, and providing practical solutions for improving their accessibility.

If a business provides goods, facilities and services to the general public and has not taken steps to make sure they are accessible to everybody, it may be discriminating against people with a disability under the terms of Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The Equality and Human Rights (formerly the Disability Rights) Commission says that one in seven people in the UK suffer some form of disability and many people experience some loss of sight and manual dexterity as they get older. Together these groups could represent a lot of lost business opportunities. Improving accessibility will make a service easier for all customers to use, projects an image of a company who cares about all its customers and provides very good publicity.

System Concepts can help make your website, software and any other digital media accessible through our range of services. We work with you to provide practical and cost effective solutions for your business.

Our services include:

  • Audits
    Using internationally recognised standards and checklists for website accessibility we can identify how accessible your website is now. Our consultants are experienced in the use of these checklists and will expertly interpret the audit results and identify key areas for improvement.
  • Customised guidelines
    Organisations often find it helpful to have their own in-house accessibility design guidelines. We work with you to customise internationally recognised guidelines and disability specific guidelines to the particular requirements of your organisation.
  • Design
    We can advise on design and help involve disabled users at any stage of the design process to ensure that any new designs fully incorporate their needs and prevent any costly design mistakes.
  • User testing
    Using our extensive network of disabled users we can test your website, and any other digital products using a range of assistive technology.
  • Training courses
    With our range of accessibility training courses we can help you train your staff and integrate accessibility into your corporate culture.

Benefits

  • Helps meet your legal obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act
  • Improved accessibility for the disabled often makes the website easier for everybody to use
  • Disabled people who cannot access your service represent a lost business opportunity and possible adverse publicity, ensure you keep, or win their business
  • Easy access shows you care - it improves loyalty, customer profile and corporate image to both able and disabled people
  • User testing with disabled users provides compelling evidence of the accessibility issues associated with products
  • Major issues eg screen reader problems identified early in design before modifications become expensive

Our Approach

  • Based on industry best practice and international standards - which we helped develop
  • Flexible solutions tailored to the needs of your organisation
  • Focused on user and task profiles reflecting main disability areas - agreed with you in advance
  • Structured accessibility checklists to identify key issues and allow comparison of results
  • Experienced assessors - familiar with a range of disabilities, assistive technologies, products and systems
  • Clear and straightforward recommendations presented in an easy to use format
  • Practical results which produce immediate improvements
  • Continuous improvement - we will continue to work with you to improve your designs and build accessibility into your culture.

Typical Projects

  • An accessibility review of banking website under development to check for major issues prior to internal accessibility guidelines being approved company wide.
  • A research project for BBCi including reviewing and testing websites and interviewing experts and users. BBCi have made our report available on their web-site at www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/bbci/websites.shtml, and have subsequently won an award for accessible design.
  • Providing full-time on-site accessibility and usability resource to Transport Direct
  • Other clients for our accessibility reviews include:
    • Abbey
    • TNT
    • Cahoot

For more information on any of our services, please contact us