Online service providers that fail to make their websites
accessible to disabled users will be hit by litigation this year as
part of the government's drive to raise awareness of the issue,
lawyers warned last week.
The warning came after it emerged that the Disability Rights
Commission will begin a formal investigation next month into online
service providers. This could result in the closure of websites
that fail to comply with the 1995 Disability Discrimination
Act.
"There is likely to be some litigation in 2003 on websites that
discriminate against the disabled, as has already happened in the
US," said Suzanne Mercer, a partner in the IT and e-commerce
practice at law firm Eversheds.
"This will apply particularly when people who cannot use websites
are excluded from financial incentives, such as when low-cost
airlines offer cheaper flights online rather than over the
phone."
The terms of the Act were updated in 1999 to state, "Online service
providers have to consider making reasonable adjustments to the way
they deliver their services so that disabled people can use
them."
The steps that online service providers are expected to take
include converting text into speech, making forms accessible via
assistive technology and providing text equivalents for important
images.
Although the legislation has been in place for more than three
years, many companies are unaware of their legal responsibilities,
Mercer said. "Every consumer-facing website will be at risk," she
said. "It is likely that a big name will be targeted to give
everyone a wake-up call."
The push to make websites more accessible to disabled users has
been gaining momentum over the past two years, driven by
organisations such as the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
The campaign was given extra impetus when the European Union
designated 2003 as the European Year of Disabled People.