Fix the Web campaign launched

gallery

A campaign to help elderly people and those with disabilities access the web has been launched in the UK.

Citizens Online has set up a website named Fix the Web to address e-accessibility issues by taking advantage of the social aspect of the internet.

People with disabilities will be able to report on problems they have with websites and their comments will then be passed on to web administrators who may in turn make improvements.

Organisers have called on both people with disabilities and technical experts to take part in the initiative.

Volunteers can also join in by spreading awareness of the campaign and by contacting website owners.

Citizens Online wants to see 250,000 websites reported on in the next two years, which it believes will require around 10,000 volunteers to take part.

In the UK, six million people are excluded from 80 per cent of websites to some extent, while 30.4 per cent of a visually impaired person’s time is wasted online because of access problems.

Mandy de la Mare, who, affected by Thalidomide, was born with no arms and is blind, said she finds many sites “exasperating.”

“I have tried complaining to various websites but either the forms are not accessible for me or if I do manage to lodge a complaint, I don’t get a reply,” de la Mare said.

“This is why I am a great believer in Fix the Web.”

Gail Bradbrook of Citizens Online added: “I believe many techies would be horrified to think that the web they love so much is excluding people.”

“I firmly believe that this isn’t a problem disabled people should have to deal with on their own. It’s time a committed group of tech volunteers took charge of the issue and made it their own.”

Much of the funding for the project has come from the Nominet Trust, while other partners include AbilityNet and Hanona.

Email to a friend

Print this page