Accessibility Policy

Overview

This document outlines the web accessibility policy of Bethany Home Malaysia and describes the procedures to ensure that the website complies with the set standards.

Accessible web design is linked to both Bethany Home’s mission and beliefs to improve the quality of life and assist people with disabilities in reaching their potential in their communities.

Purpose

Internet founder Tim Berners-Lee (cited in Paciello 2001, p.7) states that the ‘universality of the internet means it is critical that the web be usable by anyone, regardless of individual capabilities and disabilities.’

Accessible web design aims to benefit and provide for:

  • People living with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities.
  • Older people with changing abilities due to aging.
  • People using different types and levels of technology.
  • Users with low bandwidth connections and/or using older technologies.
  • New and infrequent internet users.
  • People with low literacy or not fluent in the language.

Accessibility aims to breakdown the barriers of location, technology and/or disability that prohibit or inhibit a person’s ability to participate with technology or society. It accommodates minorities (Clark 2003, p. 11), enables flexibility (World Wide Web Consortium 2005) and offers universal access to all users.

Site Features

This site includes the following features to improve accessibility:

  • 'Skip to content' link at the top of each page;
  • Breadcrumbs to assist in navigation and indicate current location while browsing site;
  • Resizable text and fluid layout; and
  • Site functionality with JavaScript disabled.

Definition of Key Terms

Accessibility is the degree to which anyone, regardless of disability, present or future technology or location can connect and interact with both the physical and on-line environment. The World Wide Web Consortium (2005) in its Web Accessibility initiative states that web accessibility enables people with a disability to ‘perceive, understand, navigate, interact …and contribute to the web’.

Guiding Policies/Standards

Accessibility is guided by the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) to a level AAA conformance.

Level of compliance

This site aspires to comply with level AAA of WCAG 2.0. The site will continue to be improved as resources become available.

References

Clark, J. 2003, Building Accessible Websites, New Riders; Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall, Indianapolis, USA.

Paciello, MG 2001 Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities, CMP Books, Kansas, USA.

World Wide Web Consortium 2005, Introduction to Web Accessibility, viewed 2 September 2009,
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php.