Web Access Centre

Accessible intranets - Web Access Centre

Summary: Desinging for an accessible intranet and the legal requirements.

• The legal requirement
• Disability Discrimination Act Part II - Employment Provisions
• Code of Practice
• Corporate social responsibilities
• Key steps for making an accessible intranet
• Content Management Systems
• Plan and test links

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Intranets and accessibility have received less attention than websites in general, however there is a legal requirement for intranets to be accessible as well as an equally compelling business and moral case.

The legal requirement

Employers have an obligation to enable employees to access the resources and information necessary to do their jobs. If information on an intranet is not accessible to those with disabilities then the company may be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.

Disability Discrimination Act Part II - Employment Provisions

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995, aims to tackle the discrimination people with disabilities encounter. Part II of this Act, brought into force 2 December 1996, focuses on discrimination in relation to employment.

There are two ways in which an employer might unlawfully discriminate against a disabled employee or job applicant:

• by treating him or her less favourably (without justification) than other employees or job applicants because of his or her disability, or
• by not making reasonable adjustments (without justification).

For a copy of the Act please refer to the DDA Part II - Employment Provisions on the Disability.gov.uk website.

Code of Practice

The Code of Practice (rights of access to goods, facilities, services and premises) is published by the Disability Rights Commission and accompanies the Act. The Code of Practice describes and gives general guidance on the main employment provisions of the Act.

For more detail please refer to the Code of Practice on the Disability Rights Commission website.

Corporate social responsibilities

Aside from legal obligations there are also corporate and social responsibilities as web accessibility is increasingly recognised as a key component to responsible business practices.

Implementing accessibility policies internally is as equally beneficial as implementing change externally. Making your intranet accessible will enhance it for all, enabling more people to work for you, furthering social inclusion of people with disabilities.

Key steps for making an accessible intranet

The same rules and guidelines that apply to the accessibility of the World Wide Web also apply to intranets.

Design specifications - A major difference between intranets and the internet is that an organisation knows what web browsers and access technologies employees are using. This helps inform design decisions, possible levels of compliance and map out testing programs.

It is useful to contact IT for a list of software the company uses as well as send out an internal survey to all users asking about their preferences. It is important to remember that some people may not be registered disabled but still may have problems accessing pages. For example, people may rely on customising their browser to make text larger while others may have a temporary disability such as a broken wrist.

Intranet accessibility policy - Once the design specifications have been mapped an intranet accessibility policy needs to be put in place. This should form the basis of ongoing maintenance for the site and feed into training documents for content authors.

Content authors and training - Typically an intranet will have many content authors uploading content, possibly more so than an external website. It is essential that clear guidance and training is provided.

The process of making your intranet accessible will highlight what issues need to be addressed by the content authors. Common areas are:

• Clear link text - avoid jargon, dates, "click here", "more" and repeated link text to different pages.
• Linking to alternative file formats such as PDF, Word and Excel - make sure link text is clear, alternatives to PDF's are provided if possible and provide a link to Access Adobe.
• Alt text for images, graphs and charts is appropriate and conveys the equivalent information.
• Information presented in data tables is marked up properly.

For more information about these issues visit our accessibility checkpoints and techniques pages

Content Management Systems

Many companies now use a Content Management System (CMS) to publish content. When customising or implementing a CMS it is important to ensure that options are in place to make the published output accessible and that the CMS interface itself is also accessible.

This is covered in our section on Content Management Systems.

Plan and test links

• Planning
• Content Management Systems
• Intranets
• Checklists
• Testing
• Evaluation and monitoring
• Return to implementing accessibility

For Web Access Centre updates email webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Content author: webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 06/03/2008 15:41