Nidahas » Musings on design, web standards and free software from a Sri Lankan geek.

Accessforall.lk - the irony

2006.06.26

Access for All is a commendable campaign that asks for the inclusion of disabled people when rebuilding the nation. Having seen otherwise healthy people like my mother often having difficulties when managing stairs, I can readily understand the dire need for better informed design decisions in public infrastructure, transport and even places of employment and services. However, what seems to be sadly overlooked by this campaign is the right of access to information for all people, including the differently-abled.

Of course, they do say:

Think of the potential of an inclusive society when rebuilding the nation. Think of the potential of disabled people to participate in the community, to contribute to society, to contribute to the economy.

[…] All this is possible if we make sure information distributed to communities reaches disabled people. […]

Ironically, their own website stands as an example of the lack of accessibility of online information. However, it should be noted that it’s still far better than the wrecks we call SL Government websites.

Instead of bitching about it, here are a few simple ways they can fix some of problems:

1. The navigation menu uses images with empty alt attributes: those images contain important information and shouldn’t be dismissed with empty text alternatives. It would be very much helpful for screen-reader users and users who browse with images turned off (bandwidth is a luxury for some of us Sri Lankans), if the link text is used as the alt attribute.
2. The menu fails without javascript. Given the simple requirement, there’s no reason why it can’t be done in simple html, and if absolutely required, javascript that degrades gracefully.
3. PDF files and (gasp!) Word files (such as those on the contact page) are real pains, especially when they’re not denoted as such. Unless you’re the kind of person who checks the link url before clicking it, you risk starting up a plugin that takes forever to load and freezes your browser, not to mention quite confusing to differently-abled people. Besides, most of those documents are only one page long, and can be very easily converted to html.
4. Convert the site to web standards. Afterall, it’s a simple design. But that’s probably asking too much.

Access for All is a worthy cause that deserves our support. They also deserve a better website.

Permanent Link | Filed under: Design, Standards, Web, Sri Lanka, Thoughts

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