Web Accessibility - the legal implications

— Published July 1st, 2003  |  by Paul Fitzsimons

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has committed the government to introducing rights-based legislation for people with a disability ñ a move described as a major breakthrough by disability organisations.

Similar legislation in the United States, Australia and the UK has led to legal actions against website owners, and employers who do not provide accessible services. In a landmark ruling in Australia, damages of AUS$20,000 were awarded against the organisers of the Sydney Olympics because their website was inaccessible. Will similar cases happen in Ireland? And should web owners be concerned?

In the context of web accessibility there are a number of ways in which a provider of services can discriminate against a disabled person - in refusing to provide, or deliberately not providing, to the disabled person any service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public - in the standard of service which he provides to the disabled person or the manner in which he provides it to him.

The SuperQuinn 4 Food online shopping service is inaccessible and therefore not fully available to disabled users. Because SuperQuinn 4 Food offers the additional service of delivery of your groceries to your house, it discriminates against disabled people and as such potentially leaves SuperQuinn liable.

Likewise, any organization that offers incentives for customers to conduct business on line, but which does not have an accessible website, is denying their services to disabled users ñ and is thus potentially discriminating.

Current Irish legislation does not directly concern itself with the accessibility of websites but the issue is implicitly addressed in both the Employment Equality Act (1998) and the Equal Status Act (2000). This legislation covers employment of persons with disabilities and the provision of an accessible work environment, raising the possibility of an employer of disabled people being liable for not providing an accessible work environment, if their website or corporate intranet is inaccessible.

European and Irish government policy suggests that the proposed legislation will follow the United States, where web accessibility principles and design guidelines are enshrined in law. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires Federal agencies to make their websites and other electronic technologies accessible to people with disabilities. It also requires federal agencies to make accessibility part of their criteria for procurement. If this model is followed in Ireland, public contracts could be awarded on the basis of a companyís record on accessibility and their ability to provide accessible products and services.

Such a situation is currently hypothetical, and campaigners are waiting for the first draft of the Disabilities Bill ñ promised for November. Until then, the precise legal implications for web owners will remain unclear. But the potential threat of legal action, and the enormous financial benefit that can accrue to a company from investing in web accessibility, make this an issue companies cannot afford to ignore.