Australian accessibility plan
Categorised under: Design & usability guidelines, Usability & user-centered design
Internet Industry Association (IIA) and Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA) have jointly released a Accessibility Web Action Plan. This is designed to educate Australian web managers, and assist them to deliver accessible sites. To quote:
Gaynor Gravestock, Chair of the IIA Taskforce who developed the Plan, says “There are great benefits to all organisations who adopt website accessibility. It just doesn’t make good business sense to turn so many customers away by building a web site for the minority.”
Another interesting quote:
So who will benefit from improved accessibility to web sites? It seems that the majority of Australians will benefit in some way. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 18% of Australians have some form of disability; 12% of the Australian population is over 65; 16.9% of the Australian population speak a language other than English at home; In 1996 almost 50% of Australians 15-74 had poor literacy skills and could be expected to experience difficulty using many of the printed materials they encounter in everyday life. Added to this up to 30% of Australians experience their Internet connection at less than 14.4k, whereas in the metropolitan areas 56k or broadband are accepted as the norm.
James Robertson is the Managing Director of 