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'Strong business case' for accessible websites

May 28 2008

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There is a 'strong business case' for designing websites which are easy for disabled people to use, according to an IT design specialist.

Julie Howell, director of accessibility at Fortune Cookie, says that when one financial services company made their website easier for disabled people to use, there was a 300 per cent increase in the take-up of one of their products.

She comments: 'Something that was borne out of the research is that websites that are accessible, people who don't have disabilities perform far better on them.'

'There's also a moral responsibility – it is just the right thing to do,' Howell adds.

According to the government's guide to accessible websites, an accessible site allows disabled people to 'perceive, understand, navigate and interact with websites'.

The Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey found that in 2006 nearly one in five people of working age in the UK are disabled.

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