Background Articles - Archive
Top travel websites lack inclusivity for disabled users
A report investigating the user experience and accessibility of some of the UK’s top travel websites has been launched by digital agency, Sigma. Findings from the report revealed some of the shortcomings associated with 10 top travel sites particularly when it came to accommodating disabled users. Netimperative, July 12, 2016
Business Disability Forum launches new digital inclusion process - the Access Pathway
Building on BDF’s long-standing E-Check service, the Access Pathway is a 3-step process designed to ensure that websites and mobile applications meet best-practice and international standards for accessibility. Business Disability Forum, June 6, 2016
Are retailers turning a blind eye to the plight of the UK's partially-sighted?
“With online shopping becoming the fastest-growing retail market, and given recent reports which have criticised retailers for poor accessibility both in-store and online, pressure is mounting on retailers to make their websites more accessible.” Terry Hawkins for The Retail Bulletin, May 26, 2016
“Seventy Per Cent of Websites Are Breaking the Law...”
“We've all been there, angrily tapping at your phone on a website that just refuses to co-operate. The links are too small to click, the images won't load and the ads are both incredibly invasive and impossible to close. Now imagine accessibility issues like this every time you visit a website, infuriating right?” HuffPost Tech, May 15, 2016
EU Approves Public Sector Digital Accessibility Rules
Public-sector websites and mobile apps across Europe are to be made accessible to those with disabilities under a directive agreed by EU legislative and executive bodies. Matthew Broersma for TechWeek Europe, May 4 2016
Will apps become the next disability lawsuit target?
“Because apps are a key link between the public and a business, the accessibility of apps to individuals with disabilities... is unfortunately likely to become the newest contested cyber battleground for claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Frank Morris for TechCrunch.com, March 2016
Accessibility of Retailer Websites Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Thomas J. Barton reports that in the USA a “cottage industry has sprung up challenging accessibility to retail websites...” and suggests that...“every major retailer has been or will soon be subject to these claims.” Thomas J. Barton at Lexology.com, April 2016
“Stories of Web Users”, from W3C
“Selected scenarios of people with disabilities using the Web, to highlight the effect of web accessibility barriers and the broader benefits of accessible websites and web tools.” From the pages of the Web Accessibility Initiative
Disabled access to websites under UK law
“If your business has a website, it should be accessible to disabled users. There are ethical and commercial justifications for this, but there is also a legal reason: if your website does not meet certain design standards, then you could be sued for discrimination.” Out-law.com, Pinsent Masons, 2011
£24 billion spent online in UK over festive period
“The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have revealed that online retail sales recorded a solid 11% Year-on-Year increase in 2015, equating to approximately £114 billion spent online.” Capgemini news, 14th January 2016
What if the computer says no because you are a disabled consumer?
“But what happens when you are not quite a “standard” consumer? What if the computer says no when you state your needs or circumstances?” Read Martin Coppack's article, The Guardian, 11th February 2016
“Worldwide Web Accessibility - cases from the USA” by Bela Gor (Legal Director, Business Disability Forum)
“In the UK few organisations have been sanctioned for inaccessible websites under the Equality Act 2010. Not so in the USA. Here’s a quick round up of some significant cases from the United States.” Read Bela Gor's full article
Online shopping to grow by £320bn in three years, according to The Telegraph
“The biggest four online shopping markets in the world will double in size over the next three years as consumers buy increasing amounts of goods through the internet.
Online sales in the UK, US, Germany and China will grow by £320bn between now and 2018, expanding the size of the online market to £645bn, according to research from OC&C Strategy Consultants, PayPal and Google.”
Read The Telegraph article, 8th June 2015
