Re: International perspective

by "Donna Smillie" <dms(at)zetnet.co.uk>

 Date:  Sat, 26 Jan 2002 20:04:13 -0000
 To:  <aware-techniques(at)hwg.org>
 References: 
  todo: View Thread, Original
----- Original Message -----
From: Nicky Danino <ndanino1(at)uclan.ac.uk>
To: aware-techniques <aware-techniques(at)hwg.org>; dms <dms(at)zetnet.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 12:52 AM
Subject: Re: International perspective

> You probably don't remeber me but we have spoken on the phone before, you
were extremely helpful.

Hi Nicky - I thought I recognised the name. :-)  Thank you!

> I belive Julie is coming up to Lancashire in February to speak at an
Accessibility  conference I am also presenting at!

You just never know where Julie will be next! :-)

> Anyway, do you know where I can find the latest versions of the
governments accessibility policy?

Latest version of the UK Government Guidelines for central government
websites is available on the Office of the e-Envoy website, at:

http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm

(Or, from the home page of that site, Publications - Guidelines - November
2001).
These guidelines cover issues like content, navigation, site management,
etc, as well as accessibility.

> Also, the part of the disability law in the UK which pertains to
Accessibility?

The main piece of legislation in the UK which is likely to impact on web
accessibility is the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA).  It
already is having an impact in that a growing number of people believe it
probably will be found to cover web accessibility and are working to improve
their sites now rather than risk prosecution later.  Info on the act can be
found on the http://www.disability.gov.uk website (currently autorefreshing
to http://194.202.202.185 - not sure why since the pages there also refer to
disability.gov.uk as the URL).  Scroll down to the bottom of the home page
(after the autorefresh) to find a link to the DDA info.  This act is in
three sections - one dealing with employment, one with the duties of Trade
Organisations, and one with the provision of goods and services.  None
specifically refer to websites, but there are references to provision of
information, and it's likely that some sites will count as services in their
own right (e.g. online banking), so, although no cases re web accessibility
have yet been brought under the DDA, I reckon it's only a matter of time.

> One more, anything referring to the fact that all academic institions have
to be accessible by this coming September?

And finally :-) info about the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act
2001 can be found at http://194.202.202.185/policy/sen/index.html.  The
Special Educational Needs provisions in this act came into force this month
(Jan 2002) and the Disability provisions in the act come into force in
September 2002.

Hope those references help. :-)

Regards,
Donna

http://www.rnib.org.uk

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