IT strategy - Easy access for all. Providing website accessibility for the blind or partially sighted is more than just an ethical issue. Today, it's also a legal one.

Byline: Tom Berry, deputy editor of Financial Director.

There are more than two million blind or partially sighted people in the UK, and nine million people with hearing problems. One in four households have a disabled family member. Why then don't UK companies make their websites more accessible to these groups?

Some would argue that the idea of websites for the blind is just another example of political correctness gone mad. After all, the internet is, in essence, a visual medium and the last thing designers think about when building corporate websites is how accessible they are for someone who can't see. But here's a word of warning: the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 states that websites offering any form of service are to be treated as an extension of business premises and, as such, must be fully accessible to disabled users. In effect, a company's website must be as …