Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know
Out-Law News 1 min. read
Insurance site is first to wear new accessibility badge
20 Apr 2006, 4:47 pm
A leading provider of disability income protection insurance has become the first UK company to be awarded a new website accessibility accreditation from RNIB and the disability and technology charity AbilityNet.
UnumProvident's UK site is the first to wear the 'See it Right with UseAbility' badge following a process that combined RNIB’s accessibility assessment with usability testing by AbilityNet’s panel of web users with disabilities. The exercise cost around £4,000 for the 200-page website. UnumProvident also used an external agency, e-scape media.
John Hutson, a spokesman for UnumProvident, said: "We already worked closely with RNIB and AbilityNet and we wanted to be the first to get this accreditation."
Asked if the parent company's US site, unumprovident.com, would be seeking the same accreditation, Hutson said the UK team has shared its ideas with US colleagues. He pointed out that the US does not have the same general legal requirement for websites to be accessible to disabled to users, as is found in the UK's Disability Discrimination Act.
Joanne Hindle, Corporate Services Director for UnumProvident, added: "As greater accessibility for disabled people is core to our business as the UK’s leading disability insurer, we are proud to be setting the example for enhanced website access for disabled users."
She continued: "We hope this new independent accreditation will become the acknowledged standard and that the logo will increase awareness of the various access issues affecting disabled people and encourage other UK corporations to follow our lead. Ideally, independently assessed user testing websites should be part of all accessibility audits."
