Hi Ben
In Australia, HREOC is responsible for administering various anti-discrimination legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act. (It comes under the banner of 'equal opportunities' rather than 'human rights'.) One form of discrimination is offering a service to one group and refusing to offer it, or offering on less advantageous terms, to another group. For website designers/builders, this means that if you sell stuff (or even just offer free information) to the general public and present it in such a way that people with a disability (e.g. blind people using screen readers; people with movement disorders that make it difficult/impossible to use a mouse) can't access it, you are breaking the law. Elizabeth Spiegel Web editing 0409 986 158 GPO Box 729, Hobart TAS 7001 www.spiegelweb.com.au From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Benedict Wyss Sent: Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WSG] Re: Searching for standards information Hi Andrew, First off..good reply. I like the last paragraph re human rights. Even though I don't need to be forced to be compliant to standards as I have a conscience but (and excuse my ignorance) when has being able to access the internet a human right. I thought it was the domain of things like security, sustenance and protection from the elements. I am further thinking that in order to obtain justifiable rights the movement inevitably swings heavily to the right/left in an attempt to end up in the middle ground. I am interested in hearing peoples thoughts on this one. Is it a human right or...? [disclosure: no offense intended] Cheers, On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 9:55 PM, Andrew Boyd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Ben, AGIMO publishes guidelines that cover some of what you asked for - it is up to individual organisations as to which guidelines they follow and how far - it shouldn't be that way but it is. Each organisation that I've worked in over the last 25 years in Government has had their own writing standards - and since there has been a web, their own web content/usability/accessibility standards in one form or another. Most are compliant in some way or another with WCAG 1.0 - but this is based on interpretation, and these interpretations vary between organisations. Privacy is looked after by the Australian Privacy Commissioner (http://www.privacy.gov.au/). An study of the Australian Government web standards environment is not complete without examining the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission (http://www.hreoc.gov.au). One of the Commissioners, Graeme Innes, has put the lot of us on notice - he will (to use his words) "name and shame" organisations that have inaccessible sites. He has started this already. Cheers, Andrew On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 8:44 PM, Benedict Wyss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: And then the clouds parted... http://webpublishing.agimo.gov.au/ If anyone wants to add then please do so but shall consider this closed. Cheers, On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 8:31 PM, Benedict Wyss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi all, I am looking for any and all links to comprehensive listings of: 1. Australian Government Industry Best Practices 2. Australian Government Standards (Privacy, Accessibility and Usability) I have been googling for a while and coming up with bunk. All assistance welcomed. Thanks, Ben ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ******************************************************************* -- --- Andrew Boyd http://onblogging.com.au ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
