Uncertainties over the Equality Bill
The Equality Act 2010, a piece of legislation to harmonise the various equality acts in the UK was intended to come into force in October, but with the change of government there are mixed messages about the timetable for enforcement. There is also an unresolved issue about how it relates to websites.
The Equality Bill is intended to harmonise all the various pieces of legislation we currently have dealing with treating people equally regardless of race, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation and disability, and as such it replaces the excellent Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) which, amongst other things, says that websites must be accessible and which gave examples of how services offered over the web could reasonably comply with thee DDA.
Sadly, the Equality Bill is much more confusingly written than the DDA and some have described it as impenetrable which, of course, affects its accessibility. This is quite contrary to what Harriet Harman promised when she first introduced the bill. She said "It will be written in plain English, so that those who benefit from the law, and those who need to comply with it, can see the wood for the trees".
It will still be illegal to instruct your web developer to build an inaccessible website, but under the new law this is worded as: "A person (A) must not instruct another (B) to do in relation to a third person (C) anything which contravenes Part 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 or section 107(1) or (2) or 111(1)". For the full text of the Equality Bill, see:
www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010/ukpga_20100015_en_1
As you may know, Skill Zone cares greatly about access for all, and each year we work with the Warrington Disability Partnership and run the website for Disability Awareness Day, Europe's largest "not for profit" disability exhibition. This year's event is on 11th July at Walton Hall, Warrington, and this year's show will include "Spoke Before Wicket" for wheelchair cricket fans, and an opportunity to try scuba diving. You will be able to see Sky TV's Strictly Wheelchair Dancing team, and performances from Spaceships are Cool, one of the first disability bands to feature at Glastonbury. There will also be appearances from both Carly and Martin, two of the artists who featured recently on the BBC's Autistic Superstars.
www.disabilityawarenessday.org.uk
28th June 2010
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.