Universal Design for Web Applications

Legal Liability

Â	The Internet is a cornerstone of the modern economy. One of the country’s largest retailers cannot exclude an entire segment of the population from its goods and services. This lawsuit is a warning to all large companies with an Internet presence that the blind will not be left behind on the information superhighway.[8]	Â
Â	--From NFB v. Target Fact Sheet

Around the world, there are many international laws securing the rights of people with disabilities with respect to web content. In the U.S., these include the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, Section 508; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990; and in the mobile space, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. All of these are in addition to various state-specific policies.

In the UK, the primary legislation is the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). Unlike Section 508, the DDA applies to all websites, not just those that are government-funded.

At the time of this writing, the European Union (EU) does not have specific legislation, but several EU member states (including Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal) have legal mandates for web accessibility. In addition, an agreement known as the Riga Declaration, signed unanimously by the EU, requires each member state to make its own governmental sites accessible by 2010.

Australia, Canada, Israel, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand all have related policies. Visit http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/ for more information.

As we write, some of ...