For businesses which use their websites and apps for selling goods or services there are several potential legal issues which could apply in relation to their accessibility and usability. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for a service provider to: Directly discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide the service or providing a worse service because of their disability Indirectly discriminate against a disabled person by having a seemingly neutral provision criteria or practice (PCP) that it applies to everyone but which substantially adversely affects a particular group of people who share a protected characteristic such as a disability or a type of disability e.g. people with a visual impairment, without justification disabled people unfavourably for a reason arising out of their disability e.g. requiring a disabled person to pay more for a service without justification Fail to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled person. It is particularly important for service providers to be aware that providing reasonable adjustments is a proactive obligation. This means businesses should take steps to ensure the accessibility and usability of their websites before a complaint is received. The legal duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments is twofold. First they should anticipate that they will have disabled customers and so should design websites and apps to be accessible and usable by disabled people. However, it will not be possible to anticipate the needs of every disabled person but service providers can and should consider when designing websites and apps the needs of people with: visual impairments hearing impairments manual dexterity problems mobility impairments cognitive impairments such as epilepsy learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia Asperger’s and Autism Learning disabilities Mental health problems
For businesses which use their websites and apps for selling goods or services there are several potential legal issues which could apply in relation to their accessibility and usability. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for a service provider to: Directly discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide the service or providing a worse service because of their disability Indirectly discriminate against a disabled person by having a seemingly neutral provision criteria or practice (PCP) that it applies to everyone but which substantially adversely affects a particular group of people who share a protected characteristic such as a disability or a type of disability e.g. people with a visual impairment, without justification disabled people unfavourably for a reason arising out of their disability e.g. requiring a disabled person to pay more for a service without justification Fail to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled person. It is particularly important for service providers to be aware that providing reasonable adjustments is a proactive obligation. This means businesses should take steps to ensure the accessibility and usability of their websites before a complaint is received. The legal duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments is twofold. First they should anticipate that they will have disabled customers and so should design websites and apps to be accessible and usable by disabled people. However, it will not be possible to anticipate the needs of every disabled person but service providers can and should consider when designing websites and apps the needs of people with: visual impairments hearing impairments manual dexterity problems mobility impairments cognitive impairments such as epilepsy learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia Asperger’s and Autism Learning disabilities Mental health problems
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