EU Committed to Accessibility

Sholom Sandalow, Friday, June 16, 2006 @ 1:30 pm

The European Union has called committed itself to providing Internet access to all it's citizens by the year 2010. This is more evidence of the importance of providing quality content which is accessible. You can read the full article here. The decision comes as a result of a few disheartening reports about web accessibility for the disabled. From the CNET news article: "According to recent research, 81 percent of Web sites in the United Kingdom are inaccessible to disabled people, while a separate report found that only 3 percent of European public-sector Web sites met W3C accessibility guidelines." As we as a population grow more dependent on the web, it becomes ever more important to ensure that no one is left behind.

The EU's own site on accessibility policy has a sub area on web accessibility. They mention an initiative known as the European Internet Accessibility Observatory or EIAO. This organization's job is to crawl the web looking for scofflaws -- big brother is crawling.

Related posts:

1. Web Accessibility is Good Business
2. Accessibility and Ajax: Progressive enhancement vs. side-by-side UIs
3. Quick, It’s the Feds! Hide the AJAX!
4. An Event Apart Chicago: Day 2
5. AJAX and the Network Effect

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