R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

Blind sue over site failings

The RNIB is funding court cases as many firms ignore laws requiring that web sites are made accessible to the disabled

David Neal, IT Week 10 Jul 2003

After years of campaigning for companies to make their web sites more accessible, the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is now backing a number of individuals to take legal action against web sites for allegedly failing to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.

A spokeswoman for the RNIB confirmed that the organisation is acting on behalf of a number of individuals but would not say which sites were being investigated. "It is correct [that legal action is proceeding], but at the moment we are not willing to talk about the specific cases or details," she said.

Catherine Casserle, senior legal officer at the RNIB, is involved in these moves. She said that the RNIB was right to combat discrimination in such cases and predicted that more lawsuits would be initiated in future. "The Disability Discrimination Act has been around for a while, the provisions covering web sites have been clear since 1999," she added. "There are increasing numbers of cases being taken under the act and this will continue to be the case."

Under the DDA, organisations providing goods, services and facilities directly to the general public are not allowed to refuse to serve a disabled person for a reason that relates to their disability. This may mean that some web sites have to use technology to support features such as text for images, and some firms may have to consider implementing technologies for enhanced screen readers and Braille input. Otherwise, in some cases, if people with disabilities, such as sight problems, cannot access site facilities, the owner of the site may be in breach of the law.

Although this law has not yet been tested in court, the RNIB said it is fairly confident that whatever the outcome the publicity will aid its cause. "We want to raise awareness of the DDA - that is the outcome we always look for with our activities," said Casserle.

Casserle added that one likely outcome would be that the firms in question are forced to make changes to their site. "Service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to their sites, but if an individual can demonstrate that something is unreasonable then it is up to the court to decide what action to take," she said.

One country in which a similar law was tested is Australia. In August 2000 its Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Socog) had discriminated against a partially sighted man by not developing a site that he could access properly. The man was awarded AU$20,000 compensation.

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