Reading Room Stars in Web Accessibility Movie

01/09/2007 - London

Reading Room Stars in Web Accessibility Movie

 

Margaret Manning, CEO Reading Room, lines up in an impressive cast for the launch of the new DVD created for the Society of IT Management (Socitm), the professional association for IT management in the public sector.

A World Denied - web accessibility the movie explains that, even with all the clear benefits from making sure a website is accessible to all, including widening the audience, some 80-90% of all websites are still not designed to be so.

The video points out that designing an accessible website need not be expensive or difficult, but that organisations that are not taking any steps in this direction are increasingly likely to fall foul of the Disability Discrimination Act and face court action, fines and reputation damage.

Available now, A World Denied - web accessibility the movie has been produced in association with Abilitynet, the charity that helps people with disabilities make use of computers and the internet. The DVD's messages are aimed firmly at senior managers, in the belief that poor corporate commitment to website accessibility is due to low awareness of the issue among these decision-makers and budget-holders.

An impressive cast of characters makes the case for website accessibility. They include Dame Jane Campbell DBE (Disability Rights Commissioner and Health and Social Care Policy Advisor for Commission for Equality and Human Rights), Anne McGuire (Minister for Disabled People), Robin Allen QC (legal adviser to the Disability Rights Commission), and Julie Howell (Director Fortune Cookie) amongst others.