Statement from Vision Australia on Disability Royal Commission website accessibility
Vision Australia’s Digital Access Team was engaged by the Attorney-General’s Department in April 2019 to provide consultation around the accessibility of a draft version of the website for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
At that point in time, the website contained no written content.
Following this consultation, Vision Australia advised the Department that a full accessibility audit, supported by user testing by persons with disability, should be carried out on the final version of the website to ensure it meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA conformance.
Vision Australia has not been involved in such an audit or user testing and has not issued advice to the Department that the website is WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliant.
The issues raised by Sam Connor of language, legibility and appropriateness of content do not impact WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance, but are still important usability and accessibility considerations.
People should be presented with information that is important and relevant to them in a manner that is easy to understand.
Vision Australia provides multiple training courses around writing for audiences with different needs, such as people with disability.
Vision Australia has also recently worked with the South Australian state government to help develop their Online Accessibility Toolkit and state accessibility policy and ensured plain English and Easy Read were applied to all information in those resources.
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Further enquiries: Phil McCarroll, 0416 632 253