Internet still covered under Australian Discrimination Law
A decision in the US District Court yesterday found that US disability discrimination law does not cover the internet. However, having an inaccessible website is definitely in breach of Australian disability discrimination legislation.
"Under the Federal Disability Discrimination Act - as well as under equivalent laws in all Australian States - it is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of their disability by having a website which they cannot access," said Dr Sev Ozdowski, Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner.
"The World Wide Web Consortium has developed web access guidelines, and non-compliance with them by the operators of Australian websites is in breach of the Act," Dr Ozdowski said.
The guidelines set out ways in which website operators can provide access for people who surf using speech or braille, people who need more time when using a keyboard, or people who can only use a keyboard or a mouse. The guidelines require such things as images and frames to be labelled, and do not prevent use of software such as Flash but require text alternatives.
"Two years ago a $20000 damages award was made against SOCOG because their site was not accessible during the Olympic Games," Dr Ozdowski said. "I am keen to ensure that website operators are aware of the law so that such complaints do not have to be lodged in the future."
Since that decision the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has worked with organisations such as the Internet Industry Association (IIA) to raise awareness among website operators of what the law requires. We are very encouraged that the IIA has recently released an Accessible Web Action Plan that over time will make Australia a world leader in web accessibility.
Information on the Web Access Guidelines may be found at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/
Media contact: Janine
Macdonald
