Comments on: Inaccessible sites. Who’s to blame?

By: Mike Cherim

Mike Cherim — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:53:57 +0000

The old expression, you get what you pay for, seems to apply here. I am curious to what they will say. Especially BT. Seems like they would find the whole accessibility thing obligatory and not offer anything beside that. If these business sites aren’t accessible, and it’s due to the templates, I feel the responsibility rests on the shoulders of BT, not the site owners. The owners are ignorant to the facts (if they weren’t they’d probably want a “real” site) so I cannot blame them. It’s bad enough owners will place content that breaks the rules, that is to be expected, but they should absolutely be given something in terms of a solid foundation from which to work. BT needs to take the lead the right way. Else, I’d say they is a liability issue at work here.

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:45:52 +0000

Well it took a while but I’ve had a reply. My original email to them said:

I’ve just been taking a look at BT Tradespace as requested by a client. I took a good look at your example site and would like to ask what your stance is on the laws regarding accessible web sites.

The Disability Discrimination Act clearly states that business sites must be accessible to level 1 of WCAG.

Given that a business is liable for its web site and that they could be sued for having an inaccessible site, I would like to know what steps you take to indemnify businesses using your Tradespace and if none, whether you have notified said businesses of the risk.

The reply is short but sweet:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are looking into the issue and will come back you in due course.

Kind regards

Sally
BT Tradespace Support

I await the due course……………………………..

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:24:51 +0000

Stunned amazement! BT have got back to me, they say they are fully committed to accessibility and want to arrange a phone call to discuss this.

Watch this space.