Taking accessibility online

Taking accessibility online

The Disability Discrimination Act states that companies in the UK that are open to the public have a legal duty to make their buildings and services accessible. In America, the legislation is the same, and lawyers are using it to argue that just as buildings need to be wheelchair accessible through the use of wheelchair ramps, so too, the company’s websites need to be accessible to disabled users. The American organisations, the National Federation of the Blind and the National federation of the Deaf have recently won legal battles to make the laws which apply to buildings also apply to online retail shops when they act as gateways to physical stores. Much like induction loops for the blind and wheelchair ramps for the wheelchair bound, there are various steps that websites could take to make their content accessible to all users. For example, websites could incorporate a verbal description of the page for the blind; or transcripts of videos for the deaf. Here at The Ramp People, we take accessibility very seriously, and have already implemented a number of changes to make our website more user-friendly. Measures include using an easy-to-read font, and having a chat function which gives our customers instant access to our customer service team. Our dropdown menus are arranged in the most straightforward manner possible, and the photos which we have accompanying the products have been chosen to be as illustrative of the wheelchair ramps as possible. These improvements are a continuous and ongoing process, so if you think of any changes we could make to our website that would make it easier for you to use it, then please do let us know!