Starting today, government sites must make a demonstrable effort to be accessible to people with disabilities, such as blind, partially sighted and color blind people. However, governments flout these rules on a large scale, according to research by two experts in the field of digital accessibility.
Of the 2,000 government websites for which it was assessed whether they comply with the legal requirements for accessibility, only 70 complied completely.
“This often also means that a site is not very well organized if it is not accessible”, says one of the researchers, Ron Beenen. “But people with a disability are more likely to suffer from it.”
CoronaTest.nl
The authorities concerned have not even mapped out whether they are accessible of at least 5000 other websites. That is precisely what is mandatory from today. “The non-committal nature has now really disappeared, but in many cases governments cannot get it done”, Beenen said.
CoronaTest.nl, among others, where people can request a corona test, does not meet the accessibility requirements. Reporting to the police is also not well organized.
Often a general website is in order, but it goes wrong on parts of a website that have been developed, for example, by other suppliers, such as a municipal site to register household waste.
‘Downright worrisome’
Advocate of people with disabilities Everyone calls the results “downright worrisome”. “A large group of people cannot participate fully in society, because government sites are inaccessible,” the organization said in a written statement.
The organization points out that governments have had ample time to get their affairs in order. In 2008 they already promised to make their sites accessible; it has been known since 1 June 2018 that today’s legal obligation will be introduced.
