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On the 1st October 2004, the DDA (Amendment) Regulations came into force. This legislation has had a major impact on the entire Business world and created major changes to the law. It affects every UK business; no matter how big or small the company. Non-compliance not only locks the business out of the disabled pound (estimated at ) it can also lead to bad publicity and possibly prosecution (with a minimum fine of £5 000).

Surveys have shown that most businesses believe that the act only covers physical access issues. In fact, only 25% of the act concerns itself with physical access. It also covers service delivery, communication media (including the web), employment issues as well as the need to change basic business processes and procedures to ensure DDA compliance.

Many of these things can be done simply and cheaply with a little consideration, however the company needs to be aware of their responsibility. A good example is their website. If you are offering a service through a website, for example, supplying information, then at least 10% of the population will have a disability that you need to address.

We are a short sighted and aging nation so the ability for a user to change text sizes is important. There are also many other disabilities that need to be addressed. Dyslexics may have trouble with a confusing layout and have difficulty with certain colours. People with arthritis may have trouble using mice and your website needs to address this.

The updating of a web site to be DDA compliant is not an exact science, you will need to interpret the guidelines with knowledge and be aware that a change may be fine for one group but bad for another.

It is estimated that less than 10% of websites are accessible, with the majority of these being government run websites. Compliance increases your potential market share and protects you from bad publicity and potential prosecution.

To help your company understand physical access, service delivery, legal and communications media compliance a number of expert companies have come together to deliver the UK's first DDA compliance conference. This will be held in Birminingham on Monday 13th June. This conference will give you a good grounding in DDA compliance along with the understanding that all companies need.

Article written by Out of Hours' Editorial Team.

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