Accessibility Business Case

WAI Education & Outreach Working Group

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Why web accessibility?

• Web is ubiquitous

• Increasingly used for service delivery

• Benefits many people

• Benefits your organisation

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Auxiliary Benefits (2002)

• Increased market share

• Improved efficiency

• Technical benefits

http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html

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WAI Business Case (2005)

• Four Factors

• Social

• Technical

• Financial

• Legal and Policy

www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/

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Social Factors

• Essential for Equal Opportunity

• Many barriers to Web use

• Overlap with digital divide issues

• Aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility

• Benefits people with/without disabilities

• Older people

• Low literacy and NESB

• Low bandwidth and old equipment

• New and infrequent users

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Beneficiaries

In addition to people with disabilities:

• People using PDAs, web phones etc

• People with poor communications infrastructure

• People with old equipment

• People working in restricted access environments

• People with temporary impairments

• People coping with environmental distractions

• Older people

• New users

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Beneficiaries quantified

• Some statistics

• 20% of Australians have an ongoing disability

• 9% of Australians are colour blind

• 17% of Australians have a print disability

• 30% of rural Australians browse with graphics off

• 10% of users have no JavaScript

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Beneficiaries – Microsoft Research

• 60% of US working age (18-64 year olds) are likely to benefit from the use of assistive technology

• Due to difficulties with daily tasks or employment or an identified impairment

• Computer users (18-64 year olds)

• 57% of 18-64 year-old computer users in USA are likely to benefit

• 44% of computer users use built-in accessibility options

• 17% computer users use assistive technology products

Implication: Accessible design is a mainstream issue

Source: Forrester Research 2003
(www.microsoft.com/enable/research/phase2.aspx)

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Technical Factors

• Site development and maintenance

• Server load & bandwidth

• Interoperability & device independence

• Prepared for advanced technologies

• High quality website

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Standards Benefits - References

• www.alistapart.com/articles/slashdot/

• http://webstandardsgroup.org/
  resources/index.cfm?resource_id=317

• www.maccaws.org/kit/way-forward/

• Web Standards Organisations

• www.webstandardsgroup.org

• www.webstandards.org

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Fairfax Experience

• Fairfax Digital (40 websites). SMH/Age alone have:

• 135 million page impressions per month

• 6 million unique visitors per month

• 3-4 minute average user session

• Began moving to standards-based CSS/XHTML in Nov. 2003

• Saved $1 million in bandwidth charges in a year

Source: Brett Jackson, Director Creative Services, Fairfax Digital, Web Standards Group Meeting, Melbourne 26 October 2004

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Financial Factors

• Increased website usage:

• Potential use by more people

• Better findability (SEO)

• Usable in more situations

• Better usability

• Positive image for organisation

• Direct cost savings

• Cost considerations

• Ongoing costs

• Decreasing costs

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Cost considerations

• Initial costs

• Acquiring expertise

• Incorporating accessibility into procedures

• Purchasing tools and technologies

• Ongoing costs

• Increased development time

• Additional testing time

• Decreasing costs

• Incorporate accessibility from the start

• Specialised organisation-wide resources

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Legal and Policy Factors

• Determining applicable policies

• Consideration for different types of organisations

• Considerations beyond requirements

• Considerations for the future

• Understanding risks for non-compliance

• Addressing multiple standards

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Australian situation

• Australia

• DDA 1992

• Disability Standards – Education, Transport

• HREOC WWW notes

• McGuire vs SOCOG

• Online Council of Ministers

• Commonwealth and State policies & guidelines

• Australian Bankers Association standards

• Organisational policy or Disability Action Plan

http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=639

• International Policies

http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/Overview.html

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Discussion

• Presented by Andrew Arch

• Vision Australia – Accessible Information Solutions

• With Support from:

• Helle Bjarnø (Videncenter for Synshandicap - Denmark)

• Shawn Lawton Henry (W3C WAI)