Understanding Accessibility
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), formerly known as HREOC, administers the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and has advisory notes that cover web sites. Extracts from the advisory notes:
The provision of information and online services through the Worldwide Web is a service covered by the DDA. Equal access for
people with a disability in this area is required by the DDA where it can reasonably be provided. This requirement applies to
any individual or organisation developing a Worldwide Web page in Australia, or placing or maintaining a Web page on an
Australian server.
The Commission believes that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [(WCAG)] that have been developed by the W3C Consortium
[sic] provide the most comprehensive set of benchmarks for assessing the accessibility of websites, and represent current
international best practice in accessible web design.
This refers to WCAG 1.0, that was approved in May 1999, and is the current stable and reference-able version. WCAG 2.0 was released in December 2008, it is applicable to current and emerging web technologies, is easier to use and understand, and is more precisely testable. The Commission is formulating their recommendations and strategies for implementing WCAG 2.0, and hopes to publish them by March 31, 2009.
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