Notice Board - News

First Accessibility Accreditation Awards Presented

AccEase, Wellington

8th February 2006 
Media Release

Today, Mr Colin Jackson, President of InternetNZ,  presented New Zealand's first Accessibility Accreditation Awards to three organisations.

They are

• www.community.net.nz Department of Internal Affairs,
• www.odi.govt.nz/ the Office for Disability Issues and
• www.rnzfb.org.nz the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind for the main part of their site.

“Internet access is not only about improving the infrastructure; it is also about making the information it carries accessible to all New Zealanders. It is not acceptable that people on slow lines or with disabilities are forced to miss out on the benefits the Internet can offer,” said Mr Jackson. His organisation is a not-for-profit organisation which promotes wide access to the Internet.

“We are delighted to reward people and organisations who have gone beyond compliance to focus on the user. Commitment to good communication deserves every encouragement”, said Robyn Hunt, co-Director of AccEase, the company specialising in web accessibility that created the awards.

The awards take the form of a quality mark which is attached to the qualifying site for a period of time, or until the site undergoes significant change. On its own web site AccEase will carry a register of sites that have earned the mark.

Web sites must meet New Zealand and international standards and pass rigorous user tests to qualify for the award.

“Available does not equal accessible. Simply putting material on the Web does not mean everyone can use the information.” Ms Hunt said.

“Accessibility is not just about blind and other disabled people. It is also about people disadvantaged by the digital divide, people with particular working condition constraints, people with slow lines, and ironically people using ”new” technologies such as cell phones, hand held computers and so on.

"According to international research by Microsoft, sixty percent of working age people can benefit from accessibility features on web sites and intranets.” she said.

"Accessibility is an attitude, a way of thinking that ensures sites are barrier free. Building in accessibility from the ground up is not difficult," said Judy Knighton, co-director of AccEase. "Our experience in auditing more than 150 government web sites has indicated that while some government sites are very close to qualifying for the quality mark, others still have some way to go."

Contact

Robyn Hunt   or Judy Knighton
04 939 0445      0275 375321
027 449 3019    04 528 0888