Accessibility Services
Website accessibility matters. It certainly does to us. Let Tagish help your organisation to take "reasonable steps" and ensure that your website meet accessibility requirements. Find out more about our accessibility services:
Talk to Tagish - where accessibility matters.
Why does website accessibility matter?
It is a Legal obligation to provide accessible web content
In line with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995: Code of Practice It is now "unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public". Providing accessible web content is now a legal duty for every organisation in the United Kingdom, and ensures that you avoid potentially costly lawsuits. If your organisation has an Intranet, you are also legally obliged as an employer to ensure that it can be used equally by all of your employees.
There are financial and business benefits to providing accessible web content
With annual spending power in the UK alone of around £80 billion, disabled adults are also important potential customers, so it also makes sense financially to ensure that your website can be used by as wide a range of people as possible. An inaccessible website puts an organisation at a competitive disadvantage - after all if your website cannot be used by people with disabilities, who knows where else those potential customers are going to find their goods and services? An accessible website means that the maximum possible number of potential users of your product or service can find out about what you have to offer, and can interact with your organisation. It makes sound business sense.
It is best practice to provide accessible websites, providing equal access to all, and meeting ethical obligations.
Increasingly, organsiations are aware that demonstrating their commitment to the moral and ethical reasons why a website should be made as accessible as possible is responsible business practice. Not only does doing so promote social inclusion, but providing a website which cannot be used by people with visual or motor impairments is a form of discrimination.
And of course, accessibility isn't just about users with disabilities either. With the growth in the use of open-source software and alternative operating systems ( Open Source predictions for 2007 ) it pays to be sure that your website can be used by those who are at the cutting edge of technology. Ensuring that your websites work well with browsers like Firefox. Safari and Opera maxmises their potential and minimises the risks of bad publicity.
Find out more about the accessibility services Tagish can offer.
