Flintshire County Council is working with the Shaw Trust (a national charity which supports disabled and disadvantaged people to prepare for work, find jobs and live more independently) to help improve the accessibility of its website.
Shaw Trust’s Website Accessibility Accreditation Service is endorsed by GAWDS (The Guild of Accessible Web Designers). It combines a full technical audit with rigorous disability user testing. Every member of the testing team is an experienced assistive technology user and understands the frustrations of not being able to access websites that don’t consider the needs of disabled users.
The team will be spending two weeks testing the Council’s website and reviewing the many pages, covering the following accessibility issues:
- Low Vision
- Blindness
- Colour Blindness
- Dyslexia
- Mobility impairments
- Learning difficulties
- Deafness
- Autistic Spectrum disorders
Following the testing of the website, the Shaw Trust will produce a report outlining any problems found. The Council will then have six months to resolve these problems after which time the website will be re-tested. Once passed, the Council website will be fully accredited by the Shaw Trust.
Accessible websites are required by law under the Equality Act to ensure that everyone can access information and services no matter what their ability or disability.
The Shaw Trust will help ensure that Flintshire County Council can meet these needs, alongside the current testing already carried out to meet standard accessibility and usability guidelines.
