[LINK] Call for disabled internet revolt - UK

[Tom Worthington]

At 09:22 AM 3/12/2006, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>More on UK accessibility reactions.
>
>>Call for disabled internet revolt By Mark Ballard The Register (UK), 
>>March 10, 2006 ...
>>Being nice has achieved little ... The Disability Rights Commission plans 
>>to call upon disabled internet users to rise up against inaccessible 
>>website owners and help it take complaints with the force of law.  ...

Might be better to be polite and litigious: "Change your web site to comply 
with the law, please, or we will take you to court".

>>... limitations in the WAI accessibility standards ...

The problem is not with the standards, but with web designers who refuse to 
implement even the most basic one: putting text captions on images.

>>"We are serving notice that the Disability Rights Commission will use all 
>>its powers to secure compliance on this very important matter," ...

The DRC should get some pointers from their Australian colleagues at HREOC, 
who are probably the world leaders in the field.

>>... The DRC gets around 2,000 calls a week, but very few complaints. ...

Perhaps DRC and/or RNIB should set up an online complaints system. People 
could then enter their complaint directly into a web form (a very 
accessible web form of course), or telephone staff could enter it for them.

>>This could be useful, as 80 per cent of developers told the DRC that 
>>their clients were not interested in building accessible sites. ...

An online complains system could register a complaint against the 
developers of the web site, as well as against the organization the web 
site was built for. Those who are members of a trade association or 
professional body are usually subject to a code of conduct. While 
membership of such bodies is usually voluntary and punishment is limited to 
expulsion, it may bring action if suddenly dozens of members are up on 
charges of misconduct.

As an example, I did a quick search and found:

* British Web Design and Marketing Association have a Code of Conduct 
<http://www.bwdma.co.uk/42> and an Accessibility Guide 
<http://www.bwdma.co.uk/350>.

* British Computer Society have a Code of Conduct 
<http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.6030#publicinterest> and an article 
about web accessibility <http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.3042>.

* UK Civil Service has a code against unethical and unlawful activities 
<http://www.civilservicecommissioners.gov.uk/publications_and_forms/html/appeal_leaflet/the_civil_service_code/index.asp> 
and the UK Cabinet Office an accessibility checklist 
<http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/resources/handbook/html/2-4.asp>.

Complaints could be automatically routed to the relevant government or 
private complaints body. The complaint would ask for the responsible 
employee or civil servant to be sacked and their professional association 
to expel them. For a government agency the Parliament would be asked to 
censure it and for companies their trade association expel it.

The system could automatically monitor and publish statistics on how long 
each complaints body took to respond, and the outcome. The system could be 
designed to be expanded globally.

If the Civil Service Commissioners and other complaints bodies refused to 
accept complaints from the system, a charge could then be made against them 
for unlawful discrimination.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Director, ACS Communications Tech Board   http://www.acs.org.au/ctb/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml