A worldwide survey of government websites reveals scant regard for the needs of disabled people.

For example, most audio clips just play the national anthem.

Cabinet Office web specialists have challenged claims by a US professor that only two of the government websites in the UK provide any kind of special access for disabled people.

A recently published survey of government websites in 196 countries by the World Markets Research Centre and Professor Darrell West of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, reported that only two out of 27 leading UK government websites had even the most basic web accessibility facilities.

The UK came equal eighth with Canada, behind the US, Ireland and Madagascar, in terms of the proportion of websites that were accessible to disabled people, according to the Global E-Government Survey.

Researchers visited websites in June and July 2001, rating them according to four features that would be helpful to hearing or visually impaired people.

First they looked for the presence of text telephone (TTY) or telephone device for the deaf (TDD) phone numbers that would allow hearing-impaired people to contact a government agency.

Second, they checked whether a site was 'Bobby approved' for disabled access. The Bobby scheme is run by the American Center for Applied Special Technology, which maintains a web site that tests web pages for accessibility.

Researchers also asked whether a site conformed to standards laid down by groups such as the World Wide Web Consortium which has devised guidelines under its Web Accessibility nitiative (WAI).

Finally, they searched sites for text labels or 'ALT' tags on graphics that would help visually impaired people using screen readers. The presence of any one of these four features would make a site accessible for the purposes of the survey.

"We did not base our findings on the views of webmasters," said Professor West. "Rather, we visited each of the 2,288 sites and judged the situation for ourselves. In our view, that is a comprehensive assessment, the most complete that I am aware of."

Overall, only two per cent of the state-run websites visited by Brown University provided even basic accessibility. This despite laws in many developed countries, including the US and UK, that require government services to cater for disabled citizens.

"We found that government agencies around the world don't pay much attention to disability access," explained Professor West. "We gave them credit for disability access if they had at least one of the criteria we used. Few government sites met more than one criteria."

In the UK, the Office of the e-Envoy, which is part of the Cabinet Office, has responsibility for improving the accessibility and usability of government websites. A spokeswoman said that there are more than 1,000 government websites, many more than the 27 in the UK visited by Professor West.

She challenged the Brown University findings pointing out that of the websites cited in the survey seven now met Professor West's criteria, while three of them ­ the House of Lords, House of Commons and UK parliament sites ­ were not government sites.

Both the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions use ALT tags on their graphics and run text-only sites, she pointed out.

The DTI also uses a text-to-speech enhanced system known as Betsie, said the spokeswoman. The Department for Education and Skills and the Office of Government Commerce sport ALT tags, while the Department of Health boasts a text-only version of its site.

UK online, the campaign to encourage more people to use the web, and the Disability Rights Commission run flagship accessibility sites. UK online not only uses ALT tags and has developed a text-only site, but has also commissioned a system called EasyAccess which is intended to be used by government webmasters to build accessible sites.

The Disability Rights Commission has the highest possible Web Accessibility Initiative rating. In general, guidelines are produced and Departments and agencies are strongly encouraged to follow them. However, in the end it is up to them to build their sites as they see fit, said the spokeswoman.

The Office of the e-Envoy, which is tasked with promoting the use of IT in government, recently published Guidelines for UK Government Websites, a set of guidelines for managers. An illustrated handbook for web development teams is in production and should be complete by the end of January 2002.

Although government webmasters are not obliged to take account of accessibility issues, the Office of the e-Envoy hopes that all new and redesigned websites will apply World Wide Web Consortium WAI recommendations.

"Unfamiliarity with the web or disabilities such as visual impairment will present fewer challenges to users," argues the Guide. "The vision is to develop an advanced 'human' technology interface that provides: intelligent and natural language search capabilities, interaction through voice recognition, and speaking pages."

Despite the small number of sites that have any kind of accessibility, the guidelines focus on future technology, telling developers to be aware of such innovations as internet kiosks, WAP phones and digital television which work to different formats than the classic website.

Web experts are surprised that so few sites make any effort to help disabled surfers. "It's not hard to do, nor is it expensive," said Justin Flute, a consultant for Julia Schofield Consultants, the company that is developing EasyAccess for Ukonline.

"Whichever way you look at this it's scandalous," commented Kevin Carey, of research organisation humanITy. "Even the US only has one in three sites that conform to basic accessibility needs. If that's the sort of benchmark we have in the public sector, you can be sure private websites will be even worse."

A survey last year of websites run by the UK's most successful companies ­ those in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 ­ revealed that 94 per cent of them had no accessibility features.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), it is unlawful for companies offering services to the public to discriminate against disabled people. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) says that websites are not beyond the law.

The e-Envoy's own guidelines also make the point. "The Disability Discrimination Act means that you must take reasonable steps to change practices, policies and procedures that make it impossible, or unreasonably difficult, for people with disabilities to use your services," the guidelines tell civil servants.

Developments such as EasyAccess are an attempt to make it easier for departments to create web sites for disabled people and for those who find it difficult to deal with conventional displays. EasyAccess provides a set of rules for generating a text-only site aimed at people with hearing, seeing, reading and learning difficulties from a conventional site.

One of the problems of creating parallel sites for disabled people is keeping them up-to-date. Text-only websites are often overlooked when it comes to updating content. EasyAccess provides a framework for transferring data between sites.

The UK online EasyAccess site is reached by clicking on a button with an owl motif that takes users to a blue screen with menus in large white text. Distractions such as buttons that say 'click here' ­ they are no use to screen readers such as JAWS ­ are outlawed. For the same reason there are no downloadable Acrobat files either.

"If a site does not provide access for citizens who are hearing-impaired, or visually-impaired, it fails to attempt to reach out to as many people as possible. This is an area that needs to be addressed, for example with the provision of Text Telephone or Telephonic Device for the Deaf," concluded Professor West's report.

"A simple measure that could be employed for the visually-impaired is the use of audio on sites. The survey discovered that four per cent of websites provide audio clips, but that these were primarily used to play the national anthem."

UK websites visited by Brown University

UK online
Audit Commission
Audit General for Wales
Education Department
Forestry Commission
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Department for Trade & Industry
Department for Culture
Department for Education & Skills
Department for International Development
Department of Finance & Personnel
Department of Health
Department for Work & Pensions
Department of Transport, Local Government, Regions
British Tourist Authority
Criminal Justice System
Ministry of Defence
Disability Rights Commission
Electoral Commission
English Tourism Council
Government Actuary¹s Department
Government Car & Despatch Agency
Office of Government Commerce
UK Parliament
House of Commons
House of Lords
Treasury Solicitors Department

Article provided by Ability: the ICT Magazine about Disability Issues.

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