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New website accessibility and usability award - UnumProvident first site to be accredited.
01/05/2006
UnumProvident, the UK’s leading disability insurer, has become the first UK company to be awarded a new website accessibility accreditation from RNIB and the disability and technology charity, AbilityNet.
The new accreditation, entitled “See it Right with UseAbility”, combines RNIB’s accessibility assessment with usability testing by AbilityNet’s panel of web users with disabilities.
Joanne Hindle, Corporate Services Director for UnumProvident, said:
“We are delighted to be the first UK corporation to receive this accreditation, which combines the expertise of the two leading providers of website accessibility knowledge in the UK. As greater accessibility for disabled people is core to our business as the UK’s leading disability insurer, we are proud to be setting the example for enhanced website access for disabled users.”
“We hope this new independent accreditation will become the acknowledged standard and that the logo will increase awareness of the various access issues affecting disabled people and encourage other UK corporations to follow our lead. Ideally, independently assessed user testing websites should be part of all accessibility audits.”
On 8 March the British Standards Institution (BSI) published new guidance (PAS 78) to ensure that sites are accessible and usable by disabled people.
These guidelines state that those responsible for websites need to carry out practical tests (preferably with disabled people) to ensure their sites are user-friendly.
Julie Howell, Digital Policy Development Manager at the RNIB and technical author of PAS 78 says:
“PAS 78 reminds website designers to consult disabled people and involve them in testing their designs at every stage of the site development cycle. Research published by the Disability Rights Commission in 2004 showed that testing with disabled users may uncover 45 per cent more accessibility problems than testing with software alone."Go to Top.