Get Accessible Services

DDA compliance – What the law says

In Great Britain, Part 3 of the DDA requires providers of goods, facilities and services to avoid the less favorable treatment of disabled people and also to make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to any practices, policies or procedures which make it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of the services they provide. Insofar as a web site in itself constitutes a service, or is the primary medium for the delivery of a service, it will therefore be covered by Part 3 of the Act.

‘The Web - Access and Inclusion for Disabled People. A formal investigation conducted by The Disability Rights Commission’

We can help your organization become more accessible and meet your legal obligations by:

Making an assessment of your services
Providing you with a full report
Suggesting improvements
Carrying out work to suit your budget

Checklist

Your advertising Action?
Do you mention your accessibility and say that you welcome disabled customers?

Delivery Action?
Can you provide a personal shopping, home delivery or home visit service?

Staff training Action?
Do your staffs know how to assist disabled people in an emergency?

If you normally ban animals, you should consider relaxing this for assistance dogs. Remember it is not just visually impaired people who use assistance dogs.
Are staffs trained to give assistance if people ask?
Read training tip
Help could include:

Helping someone handle their money
Carrying a product to a customer’s car
Cutting up someone’s food into smaller pieces
Reading a menu out loud to a visually impaired person
Writing down a price or the answer to a question for a hearing impaired person.

Customer feedback Action?
Do you get feedback from your customers?
GM

Event consultancy

Disability awareness training

Q: What is "Welcoming Customers with Disabilities"?
Our disability training are designed to cover the do's and don'ts of communicating with disabled people, including key aspects of the Goods, Facilities and Services section of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The training covers:
Disability awareness - why disabled people are important
Disability and law - implications of the DDA
Customers with disabilities - the do's and don'ts
Easy to understand guide on how best to make your services accessible to everyone

Group facilitation

Many organizations want feedback on their accessibility. We have had over 4 years experience of facilitating consultation with people with either physical, sensory and/or learning disabilities about their experience of services.
If your service wants to check how accessible it is we can facilitate a consultation event with people with disabilities for you. All findings will be compiled as a final report, which can advise your service on what works and what does’t, and recommendations for the future.

Tourism mark accreditation
Web site accessibility page

What is web accessibility?

Allowing everybody the same opportunity to access your services

buy products online
access information
participate in corporate, social and leisure events

What level of accessibility do I need?

Each business has different needs. Our approach is to look at your services from your customers perspective, enabling you to meet your obligations, and retain a loyal customer base.

The Disability Rights Commission estimates the spending power of people with disabilities at a value of around £50 Billion.

How do people with these disabilities currently access the web?

In most cases people with disabilities view the same web pages as people without disabilities, as long as they’re coded correctly. People with disabilities may use assistance hardware or software to better access such information. Specialist assistance technologies include:

JAWS - This translates written words into synthesized speech

LYNX - This software renders text line-by-line in Braille

LINKS – This is a text-only browser - dropping graphics and typefaces.

SPECIAL KEYBOARDS - adapted for use without a mouse (a mouse is useless for people who can't see the cursor or those who can't physically use it).

Many people with disabilities struggle with INTERNET EXPLORER and a standard keyboard and mouse set-up.

Won't I lose control of how my site looks and works by trying to support all these users?

No, the building blocks of accessibility in the background - there is no need to fundamentally re-design the user interface. Generally speaking, the site only has to look different to users who actively express a preference to view it in a different way.

Our Accessibility Services

Accessibility Evaluation

A thorough evaluation of your current site to determine the level of conformance with accepted international guidelines. (what guidelines?)

We use a combination of manual and automated techniques to examine target pages in detail. We also examine the system as a whole and make observations about the site from the user's perspective.

Our findings take the form of a presentation to the project team and a detailed written report. This includes technical guidance as well as suggestions on content and design.

An evaluation can be briefed, conducted and de-briefed in as little as two weeks.

Implementation Support

Once you have defined your goals for accessibility you can get as little or as much additional help as you need. We have expert resources in technical, development, marketing, PR, content and design.

What is involved?

Get Accessible has put together the Accessibility Review to help clients who want to steer a path between these two extremes: making their sites accessible and usable by as many people as possible without interfering with the daily running of your business.

Routes to Accessibility

Above all, web site developers must engage disabled users in the process of evaluating web sites from the early stages of the design process, and should supplement automated testing with manual checks.”
(The Web - Access and Inclusion for Disabled People. A formal investigation conducted by - the Disability Rights Commission)

Some of the approaches we might use include:

Designing accessible web sites
Designing promotional material, including for conferences and events
Preparing pod casts
Creating accessible directions to your venue
Helping to make your literature more understandable

(The Web - Access and Inclusion for Disabled People. A formal investigation conducted by - the Disability Rights Commission)

As a result, all who use the Web are likely to experience frustration from time to time, and any site visited can prove to be a “learning experience”. Disabled people must frequently overcome additional obstacles before they can enjoy the full range of information, services,
entertainment and social interaction offered by the Web: blind people need sites to provide, for example, text as an alternative to images for translation into audible or legible words by
specially designed screen reading devices; partially sighted people may be especially reliant upon large-format text and effective color contrast; people who are dyslexic or have
cognitive impairments may benefit in particular from the use of simpler English or alternative text formats, such as Easy Read, and from the clear and logical layout of an uncluttered web site; people whose first language is British Sign Language may also find Plain English indispensable; and people with manual dexterity impairments may need to navigate with a keyboard rather than with a mouse.
Nevertheless, the Web has enormous potential for disabled people. In contrast to other information media, it is, with the benefit of assistance technology, potentially tolerant of
impairment. Inclusive web site design makes it easier to use these alternative means of access, without making a site less attractive to unimpaired users. Irresponsible and inconsiderate design, on the other hand, not only puts disabled users at a significant disadvantage but can make life unnecessarily difficult for everyone, whether disabled or not.

1Line Design LTD