Accessibility

Making your website accessible means making sure it can be used by as many people as possible, regardless of the device they are using to read your web pages. Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of their moral and even legal obligation to take steps to ensure that the services they offer are accessible to all.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, a provider of services (including information services) should take reasonable steps to ensure that a disabled person can make use of their service. Whilst access to websites is not explicitly mentioned in this Act, it is mentioned in the Disability Rights Commission Code of Practice, which describes how the Act can be practically applied.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), produce internationally recognised guidelines regarding web accessibility. Meeting these standards ensures you are taking appropriate action towards making your website accessible and is something many organisations are now aiming for.

• Ensure that you are adhering to UK law, specifically the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995
• Increase the reach of your website by ensuring it is useful to as many people as possible
• Demonstrate your commitment to supporting web accessibility
• assist:events adheres to AAA standards - the highest rating, which means that disabled users that are using alternate means to access the information on the events system (e.g. screen readers, keyboards) will be able to access the same information as those using a screen and a mouse

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